Legal argument delays Sandra Collins murder trial

DELAY?The trial of Martin Earley, pictured leaving Castlebar Court last week, will begin again today (Tuesday) at 11am.?Pic: Keith Heneghan/ Phocus

Legal argument delays Sandra Collins murder trial


Anton McNulty

The second week of the Sandra Collins murder trial in Castlebar was delayed by three days of legal argument between counsel for the prosecution and the defence in the absence of the jury.
Only one day of new evidence was heard during the second week of the trial before the jury was asked to be excused late on Tuesday while legal matters were discussed between the two legal teams. At the beginning of the court on Wednesday morning the jury was advised by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy that the legal argument would take longer than expected. He asked the jury to return on Friday morning.
However, after two days of argument it became apparent on Thursday afternoon that the matters would not resolved by Friday, and Judge McCarthy asked that the jury be informed that they would not be needed until Tuesday (today). Details of the legal argument for this cannot be reported by the media.
Martin Earley (49) of Banagher, Carrowmore-Lacken, Ballina, is on trial accused of the murder of Sandra Collins on December 4, 2000, which he denies. Ms Collins of 8, Courthouse Street, Killala, disappeared on December 4, 2000, and there has been no sighting of her since, and no body has been recovered.
The trial in the Central Criminal Court in Castlebar had earlier heard evidence that Ms Collins was pregnant at the time of her disappearance and that she had informed her doctor that she did not intend to go through with the pregnancy.
Her fleece, which she was wearing on the night of disappearance, was discovered on Killala pier on December 9, 2000. Included in the pocket of the pink fleece were two pieces of paper, one of which contained Mr Earley’s mobile number and the other contained two UK telephone numbers of abortion clinics. Another pocket also contained a half a pound of sausages.
The prosecution claimed that Ms Collins made calls from a phone box in Killala to Mr Earley’s mobile phone on the day she disappeared and that Mr Earley in turn telephoned the phone box.
Last Tuesday, retired Detective Sergeant John McCormack, who supervised the investigation into the disappearance, explained that on January 27, 2001, he met Martin Earley in Ballina Garda Station by appointment and asked him questions about how he met Sandra Collins.
Det Sgt McCormack read out a statement, which he said the accused gave, which stated that he first met Ms Collins in September 2000 when they were introduced to each other when he was socialising on a Friday night with work colleagues in SeΡn Golden’s pub in Killala.
He stated he later went to the Humbert Lodge pub in Killala with a colleague and that Ms Collins and her friend arrived after they arrived. He said he got into a conversation with Ms Collins and that she talked about her brother’s death.
“All she talked about was death, death, depression and death,” he was reported to have said.
Mr Earley told the gardaí that on the following day he got a missed call on his mobile, which he phoned back believing it was work related. He said a woman answered but hung up when he asked if she wanted work done. He said he rang it again and the woman became abusive and hung up.
He explained that on the following Monday, he was at work when his wife rang him saying that a woman had telephoned the family home. When he got home, he stated, his wife told him that the woman who had telephoned accused Mr Earley of trying to get off with her niece. He told gardaí he rang the number the next day to ask ‘what the problem was’ and claimed, ‘I got my head ate off’ by the woman who claimed he was trying to ‘get off’ with Sandra.  
When asked how Ms Collins might have got his mobile number, he replied that she must have got it on the Friday night but that he was not sure, as he was ‘well on’ that night.
In a subsequent conversation with Mr Earley on February 23, 2001, Det Sgt McCormack said the accused told him he received a phone call in December 4, 2000, sometime between 10am and midday. He told Det Sgt McCormack when he answered the phone there was nobody on the other end but he heard the sound of passing traffic.
He said that he received another call but again nobody was on the other end, and that when he called the number, the phone was picked up but there was no answer.

Former partner’s evidence
Sandra Collins’s former partner told gardaí he did not know what happened to her and that he considered her to be suicidal.
Patrick McDonnell was questioned a number of times by gardaí following Sandra’s disappearance after a witness claimed he saw a girl speaking to him at the doorway of his flat in Killala. Mr McDonnell denied this and claimed he had not spoken to any girl that evening.
The court had heard that Mr McDonnell – who now resides in the US – and Sandra had been in a relationship, and that while it ended in July 2000, he admitted to gardaí that they had a sexual relationship following this.
Under questioning from Mr MicheΡl O’Higgins SC for the accused, Det Sgt McCormack said that a chip tray was found in Mr McDonnell’s flat, and his explanation was that it belonged to his former flatmate, who moved out a few weeks previously. In earlier evidence, the court heard that Ms Collins was last seen buying chips from a chipper. When asked by gardaí whether it was logical to assume that Ms Collins had gone to see him after leaving her aunt’s home on the evening she went missing, he replied it was but it was incorrect.
“I accept it is a logical conclusion for the guards to make but they are wrong,” Mr McDonnell’s statement read. “She never came to see me. I didn’t see her in the street outside Birrane’s shop….I was not aware she was pregnant.”
He claimed he saw Sandra in Birrane’s shop but claimed she turned away when they looked at each other. He denied he was hiding anything from the Gardaí.
Mr McDonnell was again interviewed in April 2004, and Det Sgt McCormack said there were no noticeable changes to his statement from previous statements he had given. When asked if he considered Ms Collins to be suicidal, he replied ‘yes’ and gave reasons for his belief.
“Two reason,” he told gardaí. “What happened to her brother [who died in a work-related accident in June 2000] and her previous baby being given up for adoption.”
When asked, “What happened to Sandra Collins?”, he replied “I don’t know.”
Mr McDonnell claimed he did not know she was missing after her disappearance was reported and explained his reasons for not taking part in searches.
“I was not aware [she was missing] and that’s the truth. If I knew they [searches] were on, I would not take part. I knew people would point the finger at me,” he told gardaí.

Garda handling defended
The senior investigating garda in the disappearance of Sandra Collins has defended the handling of the case after it emerged that the sausages found in her fleece went missing.
The sausages found in her fleece were taken to Ballina Garda Station but when asked by Mr O’Higgins where they were now, Det Sgt McCormack accepted that they had gone missing.
“They were not in a great condition. I took them back to the station in Ballina and left them on my desk. They were there for a day or two but went missing … I could not find them. Possibly the cleaner took them,” he explained.
When asked if they were photographed or analysed further, Det Sgt McCormack said they were not.
“No, they were brought back to the office, no further examination was done. It was something I planned to do but they just simply went missing.”
Det Sgt McCormack defended the investigation into Ms Collins’s disappearance despite it being described by Mr O’Higgins as ‘shoddy’, ‘particularly at local level in Killala’.
The court heard evidence that a garment had been spotted by a civilian on Killala pier on December 6, three days before Ms Collins’s fleece was found.
Det Sgt McCormack told Mr O’Higgins that he was not aware of a garment being spotted on December 6 and did not accept there was a need to erect a crime scene on the pier after the fleece was found.
“Absolutely not, we were dealing with a missing person, our energies centred on finding out what happened to her and carrying out searches. There was no evidence of foul play [being] committed, and if there was that would have been a different matter,” he said.
The court heard that while the sausages were immediately recovered from the fleece, the mobile phone numbers were not discovered until two days after it was found. Det Sgt McCormack also defended the decision not to immediately search the fleece.
“The fleece in its present state is dry and looks in good condition but on the day it was soaking wet, covered in mud and had been travelled over by vehicles on the pier. It looked an absolute mess. I could have [checked if anything was inside the pockets] but I decided not to, I decided to let it dry out,” he said.