A jury has taken just one hour and 19 minutes to find Trevor Rowe guilty of the murder of Ann Butler at her home in Kilkenny.
The Central Criminal Court trial heard evidence that on 25 March 2020 three anonymous 999 calls were traced back to Rowe, 30, including one where he said he murdered Ms Butler five days previously and that the location of the body was on Maudlin Street in Kilkenny.
When gardaí called to Rowe's home, he fell to his knees, cried uncontrollably and said: "I killed a woman. I murdered a woman. I slit her throat and stuck a knife in her head".
Rowe, with an address at Abbey Street, Kilkenny, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Butler, a 71-year-old, at her home on 20 March 2020.
The 12 jurors took just one hour and 19 minutes to unanimously reject a defence of intoxication put forward by Rowe, whose lawyers had argued that the amount of drink and drugs consumed by their client on the day had prevented him from forming an intent to kill or cause serious injury to Ms Butler.
They instead agreed with the prosecution that the "only rational conclusion" was that Rowe intended to cause death or serious injury to the pensioner when he "deliberately shoved" a large piece of cardboard into her throat.
Prosecution counsel, John O'Kelly SC, reminded the jurors that this cardboard was pushed so far into Ms Butler's throat that the State Pathologist was unaware of its existence until the victim's throat was dissected.
Following the verdict, Ms Justice Karen O'Connor thanked the jury for the time and effort that they had put into their service.
The judge offered her condolences to the Butler family and said she knew it had been a difficult time for them.
Ms Justice O'Connor will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to Rowe on 1 April and remanded the defendant in custody until that date.
On that date, the Butler family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Ann's death has had on their lives.
The trial had heard that a timber cross was recovered from the floor in one of the bedrooms in Ms Butler's house on Maudlin Street and a "Jesus figure" was found in Rowe's apartment on Abbey Street.
A forensic scientist gave evidence that her findings provided "extremely strong support" that the timber cross and "Jesus figure" were originally from the same crucifix unit rather than not.
This, John O'Kelly SC, prosecuting, said in his closing speech, was a "clear scientific connection" between Rowe and the deceased.
The jury also saw CCTV footage of Rowe walking in the direction of the woman's house on the night she was killed.
Evidence was given that the defendant told gardaí that he could not tell them what had happened, adding that: "It wouldn't do her family any good to know. I can't even close my fucking eyes with the nightmare I see."
When gardaí put it to Rowe that what happened to Ms Butler was not "a nice thing", the accused replied: "It's not; it's disgusting, it's horrible, it's inhumane".
