A GRAVE DIGGER who claimed that his partner deliberately stabbed herself to death has been found not guilty of her murder but guilty of manslaughter by the majority verdict of a Central Criminal Court jury.

Martin Hayes had admitted using violence against mother of two Amadea McDermott (27) in his own evidence to the trial, which also heard that he used a hidden app to access her phone.

The jury heard that in May of this year, six years after Amadea’s death, an ex-girlfriend of Hayes gave a revised statement to gardai, telling them that the defendant had confessed his involvement in the murder.

In his charge to the jury, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said if they accepted that Hayes inflicted the fatal wound without the requisite intent to kill or cause serious harm to Amadea then they should find him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The jury had the option of returning three verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Hayes, namely; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.

The 12 jurors took 13 hours and 22 minutes over four days to unanimously reject Martin Hayes’ defence that his account aligned with a postmortem examination that found the single stab wound to Amadea McDermott’s abdomen could be “consistent with self-harm”.

The prosecution had said Hayes’ account was “absolutely a lie” and that all the evidence led to the “irresistible conclusion” that the defendant had inflicted the fatal injury.

Hayes (34), with an address at Poddle Close, Crumlin, Dublin 12 had pleaded not guilty to murdering Amadea McDermott at her home in Rathvale Drive, Ayrfield, Coolock on or about July 20, 2017.

In seeking an outright acquittal for their client, Ronan Munro SC with Marc Thompson Grolimund BL, defending, told the jury in his closing address that no DNA from Hayes had been found on the knife suspected of inflicting the fatal wound and that toxicology reports tallied with Hayes’ account of both he and Amadea taking cocaine and drinking vodka on the night.

The trial heard that the couple’s relationship was “difficult, volatile and abusive” and there was some degree of violence between the parties. The couple also abused alcohol and controlled drugs from time to time.

Hayes showed little reaction following the verdict while members of the deceased’s family could be heard sobbing in the courtroom.