AFTER 19 days of evidence, a jury at the Central Criminal Court yesterday found John O'Brien (41), a bus driver from Ballinakill Downs, Co Waterford, not guilty of murdering his wife, Meg Walsh (35), in October 2006.
At 3.25 pm, more than three hours after the verdict, the acquitted man and half a dozen female relatives made their way with slow, silent deliberation towards the public Four Courts exit and into the eye of the waiting media.
Dressed in a black suit, deep grey shirt and tie, lips clenched and quivering with tension, eyes narrowed and fixed on the middle distance, he moved through the clamour and stepped into freedom, via a dusty old Camry taxi waiting on the kerb.
It took the jury five hours and 20 minutes to reach a verdict.
This was following a trial during which evidence was given that the marriage had been breaking down after Mr O'Brien assaulted his wife two weeks before her disappearance.
In the moments before the verdict, the entire court sat straighter as the registrar asked the foreman to confirm the verdict was "not guilty".
"Yes," came the reply.
A sustained silence enveloped the room.
Said one seasoned criminal court official: "You'll usually get a whoop or a wail or some kind of noise from someone somewhere in the court but this was different."
Whatever his innermost feelings, John O'Brien appeared utterly impassive. His relatives sat immobile. Gardaí stood like grim statues.
Then from the back bench of the barristers' row where Meg Walsh's only child, Sasha Keating, sat flanked by her father, Colman Keating and uncle James Walsh, a small sniffling sound became audible.
Sasha's head was lowered almost to her knees while her uncle James laid a soothing hand on her. Her lonely grief resonated around the court as senior gardaí reached out and patted her and her uncle's arms and shoulders in manly sympathy. While the jury slowly trekked out of court, some with tears in their eyes, John O'Brien's family calmly, and without triumphalism, made their way to the dock area to bestow kisses and quiet words on him.
He talked to his lawyers then turned on his mobile, telling some callers that he would get back to them "when things die down a bit".
Finally his lawyer beckoned to him to go. A distraught little group, centred around a weeping Sasha Keating, leafed through photographs of a glowing Meg.
Outside, with a wordless Sasha standing alongside, James Walsh read a statement.
They were "numbed and devastated". Meg, he said, "is the last thing we think about at night and the first thing we think about in the morning."
Waterford bus driver not guilty of murdering his wife; O'Brien thanks supporters and jury: page 4
