A man who denies murdering his ex-girlfriend Nadine Lott told gardaí that they had "a domestic" and later said that he gave her "six or seven hard digs" but did not "go to town" on her, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
The jury heard that Daniel Murtagh described himself as "protective" and said he had never "hit a woman in his life".
He also told detectives that he broke his hand that night and could not believe he had hit "the love of my life a couple of slaps".
When Mr Murtagh was arrested and placed in a patrol car, the accused told the officer that it was "a domestic" but said he really loved Nadine. "Answer me this, is she still alive? Tell me is she still alive?" he asked gardaí.
The jury has heard that Ms Lott suffered "severe blunt force trauma" and stab injuries at the hands of her former partner "in a sustained and violent attack" in her Arklow home.
They have heard evidence that the injuries to Ms Lott were so serious that she never regained consciousness and died three days later in St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.
Mr Murtagh (34), of Melrose Grove, Bawnogue, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his 30-year-old ex-partner Ms Lott at her apartment in St Mary's Court, Arklow, Co Wicklow on December 17, 2019.
Giving evidence this afternoon, Detective Garda Darren Mulhall told prosecution counsel John O'Kelly SC that he went to Tallaght Hospital on 14 December, where Mr Murtagh had been admitted following a single-vehicle road traffic collision in Laragh several hours after assaulting Nadine.
After arresting the accused for causing serious harm to Ms Lott, Mr Murtagh said: "Answer me this, is she still alive? Tell me is she still alive". The detective said he replied "yes" and Mr Murtagh told him it was "a domestic".
The witness said he then placed the accused in the patrol car and brought him to Wicklow Garda Station. En route, Mr Murtagh continued saying to the detective: "We are only after getting back together. I was supposed to be spending Christmas and all there."
He also said Nadine "was seeing someone else", the court heard.
He added: "Did you find all the tablets in the car? I tried to kill myself to be honest with you. Hand on heart, I know I hit the girl. I just hope she's ok. It was a domestic Garda, two of us had drink."
The accused told gardaí, in an interview on 15 December, that he couldn't remember Nadine arriving home that night and the next thing he recalled was "driving down back roads" with the radio blaring.
"I was crying and popping tablets. I could see death coming for myself," he remarked.
At one stage, Mr Murtagh said he was very drunk that night.
"I'm never going to hug the woman I love. I never hit a woman in my life. We planned to have Christmas dinner together, I can't understand what happened. It must have been an argument," he continued.
In his second interview with gardaí, the accused said he was sorry that he gave Nadine "a slap" and admitted he needed "a bit of help" for his drug-use.
"It was like a split second and everything went blank, the two of us are in love," he continued.
He said he had not given Nadine a hard slap. Moments later he told gardaí "look at my hands I obviously hit her a few slaps". It was the first time he had ever hit her, he said, and insisted that he only gave her a couple of slaps. "I had no intention to ever hurt her," he said.
When asked what was "a couple of slaps", the accused said maybe five or six slaps but he could not remember. "My hand is broke, I don't know what happened. I can't believe I hit the love of my life a couple of slaps," he said. He told gardaí he had hit her two "more digs".
When asked why he hit his ex-girlfriend, he replied: "No reason, absolutely no reason guard, I'm going to pray every night. I just snapped, I don't know. I never hit a girl in my life. I should have just jumped off a bridge, it was a stupid argument."
At the outset of the trial, defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC made a number of admissions of fact to the court on behalf of his client.
These included that the accused accepted that he had unlawfully killed Ms Lott and he "alone inflicted the injuries she suffered".
The issue to be decided by the jury, Mr Grehan said, will be his intent and in the "broader sense his mental state at the time".
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Michael MacGrath and a jury of seven men and five women.
