A MAN ACCUSED of murdering his partner’s mother told gardaí that he believed she had tried to kill her husband by pushing him down the stairs and that she wanted the family dead, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

“She wanted us dead one at a time, starting with Gus. She wanted us all dead, down to the kids,” the father-of-three told interviewing detectives.

Kieran Greene also said retired grandmother Patricia O’Connor told her daughter that if she killed her father, she would sign the house over to her. Louise O’Connor “automatically said no”, Greene told detectives.

The jury was listening to garda interviews today in the trial of Greene (34), who has pleaded not guilty to murdering O’Connor (61) at her home in Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 on 29 May 2017.

The court has heard that the body of O’Connor was dismembered into 15 separate parts that were found at nine different locations over 30 kms in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains between 10 and 14 June 2017. Evidence has been given that the results of a post-mortem examination confirmed that she suffered a “violent death”.

The jury has heard that Greene walked into Rathfarnham Garda Station on 12 June 2017 and told a detective that he had done “something terrible” and had scattered the body parts of the grandmother in the Dublin mountains.

Following this, Greene gave four voluntary statements to gardaí on 12 and 13 June, in which he described chopping up the body of his partner’s mother beside a shallow grave “to make her lighter”, before he packed the parts into black bags and threw them “all over the place up there”. He said her arms were the “hardest part” and he “spewed” a few times.

Greene was arrested for the murder of O’Connor on the evening of 13 June, after he brought gardaí to a shallow grave in Wexford, where he said he had buried the deceased before returning some days later and cutting up her body.

‘A long 10 years’

Detective Garda David Connolly told prosecution counsel Roisin Lacey SC today that he conducted the first interview with Greene at Bray Garda Station on 14 June 2017.

Connolly said he asked Greene what he meant when he told them in his voluntary statement about it being “a long 10 years”. The accused replied: “It was basically just constant, not one day she doesn’t give out, horrific stuff, the kids hide under the table.”

Greene said “over the years it was getting worse” and O’Connor had “fucked a shovel” at one of the children’s toys, smashing it. “She use to throw Christmas toys out, which weren’t cheap and spend all the money her husband had saved,” he continued.

Greene said O’Connors husband Gus “supposedly” fell down the stairs on two occasions and had badly hurt his ribs the second time. “I’m nearly 100% I heard her [O’Connor] bedroom door close after. I felt she did something to push him down the stairs,” he said. He said he believed O’Connor had tried to kill Gus by making him fall down the stairs.

The accused informed gardaí that his partner Louise O’Connor had been diagnosed with Graves’ disease five years ago. O’Connor told her daughter Louise that if she killed her father Gus she would sign the house over to her, said Greene. “She [Mrs O'Connor] said there was a symptom called “graves’ rage” where you can kill anybody and get away with murder. Louise automatically said no,” he continued.

Greene claimed that O’Connor wanted her husband dead and had said this for years, saying “it was wasn’t anything new”. “I felt for everyone’s safety in the house, I told loads of people over the years but nothing happened. The kids had a nightmare of a life with her,” he remarked.

The accused man said it would be “completely different” if O’Connor had gone away as the children would no longer be assaulted and abused.

Gardaí put it to Greene that he had previously told them he sobbed and felt free after burying her and they asked him what he meant by this. “My kids would be safe, no one would have to fear her,” he indicated.

Referring to his partner Louise O’Connor, Greene said she is allergic to penicillin and one day had taken a sip of coke. “Within minutes her lips swelled up. I think she [O'Connor] was trying to kill us but couldn’t prove it,” he said, adding that they would all be safer if she was gone.

‘I couldn’t overpower her’

Describing the incident with the hurl again on 29 May, Greene said O’Connor had attacked him first and he had defended himself. “I couldn’t overpower her, if I wanted to kill her why would I wait 10 years,” he said, adding that the event wasn’t planned nor was it intentional.

“She was saying I want you all dead. She kept hitting me and saying I want you’s out and dead,” continued Greene.

“She wanted us dead one at a time, starting with Gus. She wanted us all dead, down to the kids,” he said.

When gardaí put it to him that he could have got out of the bathroom on the night, he said: “Yeah and left my family behind.”

Gardaí asked Greene why he didn’t help the retired hospital worker, as he had time to save her but instead let her die. In reply, Greene said he panicked, did not know what to do and that was the reason he did not call for help. Following this, the accused said he had let her die so his kids would be safe.

He said the first time he told anyone about the incident was last Monday and he had not stopped getting sick since he cut up her body. Referring to removing the clothes from her body, Greene said he had not taken her clothes off but as he was cutting up the body parts, the pieces of the clothing “came off”.

He told gardaí he did not research how to dispose of a body on the internet saying: “I did it all on my own.”

“I told you everything from the beginning. I’m being honest. I did it for my kids,” he explained. Finally, he told gardaí that he came to them “for what he did and the whole 10 years of hell”.

Charges

When Greene was formally charged with the murder of O’Connor, he replied: “it was self defence”.

Evidence has been given that Augustine ‘Gus’ O’Connor and Richard O’Connor, the husband and son of O’Connor, made a missing person report to gardaí at Rathfarnham Garda Station concerning Patricia O’Connor on 1 June 2017.

The deceased worked at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin and had retired about a year before she died.

The deceased’s daughter Louise O’Connor (41) and granddaughter Stephanie O’Connor (22), both of Millmount Court, Dundrum Road, Dublin 14, and Louise O’Connor’s ex-partner Keith Johnston (43), of Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin 24 are all charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Greene, knowing or believing him to have committed an arrestable offence, to wit the murder of O’Connor on 29 May 2017.

Louise O’Connor has pleaded not guilty to agreeing to or acquiescing in her daughter Stephanie O’Connor disguising herself as Patricia O’Connor at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 on 29 May 2017 in order to conceal the fact that Patricia O’Connor was dead.

Johnston has pleaded not guilty to assisting Greene in the purchase of various implements at Woodie’s, Mr Price, B&Q and Shoe Zone, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on 9 June 2017, which were to be used in the concealment of the remains of O’Connor.

Johnston also denies engaging in the refurbishment of a bathroom at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 between 31 May 2017 and 9 June 2017, in order to destroy or conceal any evidence relating to the murder of O’Connor.

Stephanie O’Connor has pleaded not guilty to disguising herself as O’Connor at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 at a point in time after her murder on 29 May 2017 in order to conceal the fact that she was already dead.

The trial continues this afternoon before Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of six men and six women.

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