Richard Satchwell trial: Man charged with wife’s murder told gardaí she came at him with a chisel

Alison O'Riordan

Richard Satchwell described to gardai how he initially kept the body of his "glamorous" wife of 25 years in a freezer before burying her beneath the stairs of their home after he said she tried to stab him in the head with a chisel, a prosecution barrister has told his murder trial.

It was during the opening of the Central Criminal Court trial of Mr Satchwell today that counsel for the State, Gerardine Small SC, said the 12 jurors will hear the accused told officers that during the alleged attack, all he could do was "protect" himself by holding his wife's weight off him with a belt that was at her neck before she "fell limp" and died in his arms.

On Tuesday afternoon, statements made to gardaí by Mr Satchwell in the weeks and months after he reported his wife Tina missing but before her body was found were also read into the record.

Mr Satchwell told gardaí he believed Tina had some "undiagnosed psychiatric condition" and she sometimes had violent outbursts towards him. Tina, he said, told him she would rather die than take antidepressants.

He said she had never attempted suicide and would lash out at people rather than harm herself. He said he didn't think Tina was a danger to herself, that she was "too vain" and "in love with herself".

Violent outbursts

Mr Satchwell told gardaí that he would "never lay a hand on her" but that she sometimes had "violent outbursts" towards him where she would hit him "with anything that came to her hand".

Mr Satchwell told gardaí in May 2017 that two weeks after they started going out, Tina gave him a black eye.

The defendant said that in the last few years, Tina might slap him once a week and that there was "real violence" three or four times a year.

Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife took out her frustration in life on him and that he took her alleged abuse as he thought she was "in pain from life".

"She isn't a bad person, and I don't want to paint her like that," he also said.

"I totally resent that idea that I would lay a hand on Tina or hurt her in any way. I'd take her back no questions asked. I totally love Tina. I'd give my life for her. I want her back," he told gardaí.

The UK truck driver also told officers that he just wanted to know that Tina was "safe and sound". "I gave up my family for her, she is my whole world," he told gardaí.

Mr Satchwell (58), with an address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell - nee Dingivan - at that address between March 19th and March 20th 2017, both dates inclusive.

Opening the prosecution’s case on Tuesday, Ms Small said Richard and Tina Satchwell were married for approximately 25 years at the time of her death.

He said the couple had married in the UK on Tina's 20th birthday and moved to Ireland, where they bought a house in Fermoy.

She said they sold the house in Fermoy after a number of years and moved to Grattan Street in Youghal in 2016, which the prosecution said was "an address of significance in the case".

The lawyer said Tina Satchwell was a very glamorous lady, who had a great love of fashion and clothes and adored her two dogs, particularly her Chihuahua 'Ruby'. She said the deceased had considered her two dogs her children.

The prosecution barrister went on to tell the court that Tina was a very petite lady, only around five foot five or four in height and weighed approximately eight stone.

Ms Small told the jury they would hear that Mr Satchwell called to Fermoy Garda Station on March 24th 2017, to tell them that his wife had left the marital home four days earlier on March 20th.

The barrister said the jury would hear that Mr Satchwell had told officers he had no concern in relation to Tina's welfare or that she would self-harm and felt she had left due to the deterioration in their relationship.

He reported that Tina had taken approximately €26,000 from their savings from a box in the attic.

Counsel said Mr Satchwell also reported to gardaí that she had a short fuse and was liable to "outbursts directed at him".

The court will hear evidence, the lawyer said, that Mr Satchwell had sought media attention in relation to getting assistance or information and had made appeals as to his wife's whereabouts.

"He gave televised interviews and radio interviews, and they will feature during the currency of this trial," she added.

Searches

Counsel said gardaí secured a search warrant for the couple's house on Grattan Street on June 7, 2017 but that it wasn't an "invasive search".

She said the garda investigation was "one of a missing person, and very many avenues were pursued. She said the jury would hear that ports and airports were canvassed and searches took place on coastlines and in forests.

The barrister said significant inconsistencies emerged in relation to the garda investigation and independent evidence Mr Satchwell had told gardaí.

Ms Small further stated that the jury would hear that the accused advertised a chest freezer to sell on 'Done Deal' on March 31st 2017 and that he had previously offered it to his wife's cousins.

The court heard further evidence will be that after "these inconsistencies", a garda operation took place on October 10th 2023, where the accused was arrested and an invasive search of Grattan Street was conducted simultaneously.

Counsel said Mr Satchwell was released from garda custody on October 11th at the same time that the search was continuing at Grattan Street. "This was a systemic, extensive and evasive search and carried out by a multidisciplinary team including forensic archaeologists," she said.

Mr Small said the evidence will be that on the evening of October 11th "decomposed human remains" were found wrapped in black sheeting in a three foot grave, which had been dug underneath the stairs in the sitting room at Grattan Street.

The barrister said the grave was cemented over and the remains were identified as Tina Satchwell. The pathologist was "unsurprisingly" not in a position to give a cause of death, she said.

There will be evidence, Ms Small said, that the accused was arrested on October 12, 2023 and interviewed at Cobh Garda Station where his "narrative now changed".

Ms Small said Mr Satchwell told gardai that he was working in the shed on March 20 2017 and when he came back into the house Tina was at the bottom of the stairs, in her dressing gown with a chisel in her hand scraping plasterboard that he had put up.

She added: "He said she flys at him with this chisel and he loses footing and falls back onto the ground. He told gardai she was on top of him and trying to stab him in the head with the chisel and all he could do to protect himself was to take a belt or hold onto a belt which was at her neck and described to gardai how he was holding the weight of the deceased off himself with the belt".

The lawyer continued: "He said having protected himself as much as he could by holding her weight, that in a matter of seconds she falls limp and has her in his arms and she was dead".

The court will also hear evidence, the lawyer said, that Mr Satchwell told gardai that he transferred his wife's body to a freezer in the shed two days later and a few days afterwards brought her back from the freezer and dug a grave.

The accused said he then wrapped her body in black plastic sheeting and put her in the grave and cemented over it, said counsel.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women. It is expected to last six weeks.