A MAN ACCUSED of murdering a pensioner whose body was found at the foot of Ireland’s tallest cliffs told gardaí that the discovery was ironic, as the deceased “always wanted to be buried at sea”.

The accused man Alan Vial (39) also told gardaí that 66-year-old Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin’s body being found in the sea below the Sliabh Liag cliffs in Donegal was “a bit sad”.

Vial denied that he battered Robert Wilkin’s head in with a rock or that he threw him off the cliffs, insisting that the deceased was alive and breathing when he left him, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Vial told gardaí that he had little memory of what happened but recalled having a fight with Robert Wilkin. He said his co-accused, Nikita Burns (23), had a rock but he couldn’t remember how Robert Wilkin suffered fractures to his head. “I just noticed that he had serious injuries to his skull,” Vial said.

He told gardaí that the fight happened at Sliabh Liag near a viewing point over the sea in the early hours of the morning. He described hitting Robert Wilkin on the nose with his palm, causing him to bleed all over the Volkswagen Passat they had been travelling in.

When the fight continued outside the car, he said he “winded” Robert Wilkin by striking him in the stomach and then placed the pensioner over a fence about four metres from the edge of the cliff.

Vial said the 66-year-old was lying down winded but still breathing when he left but could have “rolled over the edge”.

Burns, of Carrick, Co Donegal, and Vial, of Drumanoo Head, Killybegs, Co Donegal, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of 66-year-old Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin on 25 June 2023 in Donegal.

Robert Wilkin’s body was found eight days later in the water below the Sliabh Liag cliffs.

Sgt Grainne McLoone told prosecution counsel Emmet Nolan BL, that Vial was arrested on suspicion of murder on 27 June 2023 and interviewed at Ballyshannon Garda Station.

She agreed that Vial told detectives he was driving around various parts of Donegal with Robert Wilkin and Burns when they decided to go to Sliabh Liag at about 9.30pm. He said he got out of the car, leaving Burns with Robert Wilkin, but when he returned to the car, he heard Burns crying “stop” and saw Robert Wilkin trying to take her top off.

He described a fight which ended with Vial putting Robert Wilkin over the fence near the cliff and driving off. He said that Burns “wasn’t involved in the altercation, she didn’t assault anyone”.

After some time, Vial said he returned to the cliff to see if he could find Robert Wilkin but came to the conclusion that he must have walked to a nearby pub or to a friend’s house.

When CCTV contradicted Vial’s timeline, he accepted that he had made mistakes but denied lying. He repeated that Robert Wilkin was breathing when he last saw him.

He described the discovery of Robert Wilkin’s body in the sea below the cliffs as “a bit sad”. He added: “Ironically, he always wanted to be buried at sea, he was a skipper of a boat at one stage.”

Vial accepted that he and Nikita had cleaned and vacuumed blood from the Passat but denied that he was trying to destroy evidence. He said the blood came from Robert Wilkin’s nose during the fight.

When it was put to him that Burns had described Vial “battering his [Robert Wilkin's] brains in” with a rock, he replied: “I didn’t batter his brains in.” He denied using a rock or any implement and said he is “not sure” why Burns would make that up.

“When I placed him over the side of the fence, he was alive and breathing. It’s Nikita’s word against mine,” he said.

In a later interview, he said he could recall Burns striking Robert Wilkin but he said he didn’t know if she used an implement and couldn’t remember if she used a rock.

He remembered Robert Wilkin lying in the Passat, bleeding, with a blanket under his head. He said he picked Robert Wilkin up under the arms, brought him to the fence and put him over it. Robert Wilkin had “severe fractures to his head,” he said, but he was still breathing.

A rock that had blood with DNA matching that of Robert Wilkin was shown to Vial. He denied using the rock to strike Robert Wilkin, saying they used it in an effort to prevent him from rolling.

Gardaí put it to Vial that he killed Robert Wilkin and that Burns helped. He denied killing him, said it “definitely” wasn’t an intentional murder and when asked if it was an accident, he replied: “It wasn’t my original intention.”

He added: “He [Robert Wilkin] just went ballistic. I don’t know what he expected to happen. He molested Nikita, I asked him to stop and he wouldn’t stop.” He said Robert Wilkin had tried to “feel her up” several times that night but added: “Neither of us intended for him to die.”

The trial continues on Thursday before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men.