A man who told gardaí that his partner died after falling down the stairs was charged with murder after a postmortem showed her injuries were not consistent with a fall, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Vincent Heneghan SC on Tuesday opened the trial of Renars Veigulis, of Old Bridge Street in Freshford, Co Kilkenny, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Rita Apine (29) at their home on or about May 14th, 2017.
Mr Veigulus (32) came to Ireland from about five years ago and was followed six months later by Ms Apine. The Latvian couple moved to Freshford, about 30km from Kilkenny city, in 2016.
The court heard that the accused phoned an ambulance and said his partner had fallen down the stairs at about 12.18pm on May 14th, 2017. When paramedics arrived they noted the deceased had severe head injuries and there was a lot of blood at the scene.
They resuscitated Ms Apine and then took her to hospital but she died later that day.
Spatter
A garda at the scene noticed blood spatter that he did not think was consistent with a simple fall and an investigation began. A forensic team found further blood spatter which they also said was inconsistent with the account of Mr Veigulus and there was also evidence that blood had been wiped from a wall prior to the arrival of paramedics and gardaí.
Mr Heneghan said forensic scientists examined Mr Veigulis’s clothing and found evidence of blood spatter on his top which was not consistent with the version of events he put forward.
A postmortem by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan showed that the deceased had suffered severe blunt force trauma that was not consistent with a fall down the stairs, Mr Heneghan said.
During garda interviews the accused maintained that Ms Apine had died as a result of the fall.
“That is the matter that you will have to resolve,” Mr Heneghan told the jury.
The trial continues.