Cause of death could not be determined, Satchwell trial told

Tina Satchwell’s cause of death could not be determined due to the skeletal nature of her remains after they were found buried beneath her Cork home, the assistant state pathologist told the Richard Satchwell murder trial yesterday.

The Central Criminal Court also heard yesterday that a dressing gown belt had been knotted to the front of Ms Satchwell’s chest in a “very unusual position”, which expert witness Dr Margot Bolster said is very often used for carrying a body.

The trial has heard that on March 24, 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife Tina had left their home four days earlier, but that he had no concerns over her welfare, feeling she had left due to a deterioration in their relationship.

The accused formally reported Ms Satchwell missing the following May, but her body was not discovered for over six years, when in October 2023, gardaí conducting “an invasive search” of the Satchwell home found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs.

When re-arrested on suspicion of Ms Satchwell’s murder after her body was removed from their Cork home, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife “flew” at him with a chisel, that he fell backwards against the floor, and described her death after he said he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe at her neck.

Postmortem

Giving evidence yesterday, Dr Bolster told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, that she went to Grattan St in Youghal on October 12, 2023, where the deceased’s skeletal remains were uncovered from a hole under the stairs with a depth of approximately 62cm.

The witness said she conducted a postmortem on Ms Satchwell’s remains on the evening of October 12, which continued into the morning of October 13 in the Cork City Mortuary.

Dr Bolster said the body was recovered in a St Bernard dressing gown in a size 14-16 and it had been wrapped in a soiled sheet and black plastic. She said a gold-coloured purse labelled “Playboy” had been removed from the left pocket of the dressing gown with cards in the name of Tina Satchwell inside.

She said she had cut the belt of the dressing gown to remove it, and it hadn’t been previously cut. The belt extended over the left side of the neck, under the right shoulder and right arm, under the body, and was then knotted on the front of the chest.

The witness said the dressing gown top had disintegrated, and multiple ribs and vertebrae had come apart through decomposition.

The next layer of clothing underneath were pyjamas. She said the belt had not been threaded through the loops of the dressing gown and that the left-hand side of the belt was across the front of the thorax.

The expert witness testified that four pieces of glass were taken from the scalp and five from the rest of the body.

There was also evidence that the head had been separated from the body through decomposition.

The witness pointed out that part of the body had been skeletonised and, due to this, she could not identify external marks and injuries. She said an internal examination was not applicable, as there were no remaining organs.

Furthermore, the witness testified that there was no evidence of any fractures of the bones, including the hyoid bone in the neck. An X-ray of the hands was carried out, and it showed no evidence of fractures.

The witness said that, due to a very long post mortem interval, Ms Satchwell’s cause of death could not be determined.

“It could not be determined due to the skeletal nature of the remains,” she concluded.

Dr Bolster said the significance of a dressing gown belt over the front of the neck was unclear.

“It was in a very unusual position, as there had been significant moving and wrapping of the body after death,” she said.

Reconstruction video

In cross-examination, Dr Bolster told Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that the body was found lying face down and had been wrapped in a soiled sheet like a bedsheet.

The witness agreed with the defence counsel that underneath the sheet, the body was wearing a dressing gown with the belt knotted to the front of the chest, which seemed “quite tight or taut” around the torso.

A reconstruction video was shown to the jury as to how Dr Bolster recalled the belt around the remains of Ms Satchwell.

Asked whether the belt appeared to be like “something used to carry the body”, Dr Bolster said these were exactly her thoughts.

“It’s very difficult to move a deceased’s body around, and very often I find ligatures are used to move a body from an area,” she said.

Mr Grehan put it to the witness that “someone would have put it on to assist in the leverage of a body”.

“Yes, to move it around,” she replied.

She couldn’t say where the glass found on the body had come from.

The witness told Mr Grehan that in manual strangulation or throttling cases, it is much more common to find fractures in the hyoid bones. She confirmed there was no evidence of trauma to any bones, and no evidence of bruising in so far as she could examine from what was left of the muscle.

She agreed that one of the arms was folded up against the chest area as it lay, and that the other arm also flexed.

In conclusion, Dr Bolster said she could “very clearly” see the belt had been knotted “at the front” of the body in a “very unusual position”, which is “very often used for leverage of the deceased”.

Cross-examination ofincident room co-ordinator

Under cross-examination, incident room co-ordinator Detective Garda David Kelleher told Mr Grehan that the accused had stated Ms Satchwell’s wedding ring was in a pocket of her dressing gown, but no wedding ring was documented during the postmortem of the deceased’s remains.

Referring to March 20, 2017, the barrister said it was “some kind of anniversary” and the accused had made a special breakfast for Ms Satchwell.

“He was doing some work out the back and Tina came down to the bottom of the stairs, she had a chisel in her hand and made a gesture, she done that down the plasterboard he was after putting up,” counsel said.

The detective agreed Mr Satchwell then gave an of a struggle with his wife, where she died.

“He then described what he did over the course of the next week, the fact he started to tell a lie and couldn’t stop, is that fair?” asked counsel, which the detective said it was.

Legal consultation

In re-examination, Det Gda Kelleher told Ms Small that the accused had numerous conversations with his solicitor, both in person and on the phone, over the four days he was in the Garda station during his arrest.

He said 25 consultations had taken place during Mr Satchwell’s time in custody, totalling three hours and 41 minutes.

The detective later agreed with Mr Grehan that the accused didn’t have access to a legal consultation with his solicitor Eddie Burke at any time after he was told he was going to be charged with his wife’s murder at 7.34pm, and when he was actually charged 28 minutes later.

Tina Satchwell’s doctor

Dr Deirdre O’Grady returned to the witness stand yesterday and told Mr Grehan that Ms Satchwell had attended her professionally in the 1990s.

Having told the barrister on Monday that she did not have Tina’s records with her, the witness said yesterday she had expected to find Ms Satchwell’s notes.

However, Dr O’Grady said she had since gone through 11 boxes of records from 1991 to 2001 and there were no notes of her dealings with Ms Satchwell.

She said she had no legal obligation to hold onto patient notes which are more than eight years old.

The witness said any time Ms Satchwell had attended her surgery for consultations she was accompanied by her husband, Richard.

She said Ms Satchwell may have moved practice or, if the notes were more than eight years old, they would have been securely shredded.

Dr O’Grady told Mr Grehan she had “most certainly not” seen his client when he had marks on his face and denied telling the accused he had to put up with it or leave.

“I would never have said that to a patient,” she added.

She said she had no recollection of the accused attending her surgery when his “face was destroyed by Tina’s nails”.

Dr O’Grady also said she had no recollection of seeing the accused when he said he took an overdose in 1993 or 1994, as it would be something she would recall.

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

Mr Satchwell, aged 58, with an address at Grattan St, Youghal, Co Cork, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell (nee Dingivan) at that address between March 19 and March 20, 2017, both dates inclusive.