Court hears of Sandra’s last days

Court hears of Sandra’s last days


Sandra Collins discovered she was pregnant the day she disappeared, witness claims she was ‘very upset’ and ‘disturbed’

The trial of Martin Earley,  of Banagher, Carrowmore-Lacken, Ballina, for the murder of Sandra Collins opened last Tuesday in the Central Criminal Court in Castlebar.
During the trial, evidence was given by a number of witnesses who said they saw Ms Collins during the course of December 4, the day she disappeared. A number of people said they had seen her in the phone kiosk outside McGregor’s shop, Killala, and evidence was heard that she had used the phone box more than once that day.

Phone calls
SiobhΡn Regan, who worked in McGregor’s shop, said she saw Ms Collins in the phonebox talking on the phone. She said she was moving around in the box and moving the handset from one ear to the other. When asked how long Ms Collins was in the phonebox, Ms Regan replied that she seemed to be in it for a very long time.
Ms Regan added she later walked down the street and saw Ms Collins standing at an archway in the village, and that when she returned to the shop, Ms Collins was on the phone again. “It was like she was waiting for a phone call,” Ms Regan said, before adding: “She seemed to be on the phone all morning … that was the way I observed it.” She said she was not sure of the times when she saw Ms Collins, but that she felt she first saw her around 12 noon and that she was on the phone at 2.30pm, when she came back from lunch.
Another witness, Breege Murphy, said she first saw Ms Collins at approximately 1.40pm when she was walking into a supermarket. When she came out, she saw Ms Collins in the phone box and that she appeared to be ‘very upset’ and ‘disturbed’ and noted it was ‘just not normal’ for someone to be so upset.
Maura Birrane, the owner of Birrane’s Shop, said she recalled Ms Collins being in the shop at approximately 7.45pm and that she bought bread, milk and firelighters. She said she did not recall her buying sausages.
She added that Mr Patrick McDonnell also came into the shop close to closing time, at about 7.55pm.

Friend’s evidence
Caitríona Kilbane, a friend of Ms Collins, told the court that she knew Mr Earley to see and that he had talked to Ms Collins in the Golden Acres Pub in Killala on a Friday night some weeks before her disappearance. She said he had been with work colleagues and claimed he called Sandra over to him and started talking. She added that he later went to the Humbert Lodge Pub and asked Sandra and another friend to go with them.
Ms Kilbane said that she met Sandra the following week and that they had discussed and argued about Mr Earley. She added that Ms Collins had borrowed her mobile phone a few weeks before she went missing.
Last seen
Ms Collins was last seen ordering a large chips from the Country Kitchen Restaurant and Takeaway in Killala at approximately 11pm on December 4. Colleen Gallagher who served her said she appeared to be normal and was on her own. She said she could not tell if she got into a vehicle when she left. Mr O’Higgins said that a large chip tray was found in Mr McDonnell’s flat by gardaí when its was searched.

Pregnancy
Ms Collins’s GP, Dr Marcus Allen, told the trial that Ms Collins had visited his surgery in Ballina on December 1, 2000, where he carried out a pregnancy test that gave a positive result. He said that she was ‘a little bit upset’ when he told her ‘but not overly so’ and that he asked her to ring his surgery on December 4 for the results of a second test.
When she rang him on December 4, Dr Allen said that the second test confirmed the result of the first. He said she was calm and showed no signs of distress. He added that she rang again later in the day but he was with another patient and that she said she would ring back the next day.
Under questioning from Mr O’Higgins, Dr Allen said Ms Collins had told him that she intended to go to England to terminate the pregnancy. The court heard Ms Collins had had a baby in 1998, and that she had given the baby up for adoption.
Dr Allen agreed with Mr O’Higgins that Ms Collins had been given anti-depressant tablets at the time of the adoption process, but he added that they were more to deal with anxiety than depression.
The trial continues in the Central Criminal Court today.

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