'Very unusual and very strange': Tina Satchwell's niece said murder accused offered her freezer used to store his wife's body
Richard Satchwell with an address at Grattan Street, 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.
Tina Satchwell's niece became emotional today as she told the Central Criminal Court how murder accused Richard Satchwell offered her the same freezer in which he later said he kept the body of his wife before burying her beneath their home.
The witness began to cry as she told the trial jury that she thought the message was "very unusual and very strange". She said Mr Satchwell wouldn't "be the kind to just give stuff".
Sarah Howard also told the trial today that she had "never" witnessed Tina Satchwell being violent or aggressive.
The witness also agreed with defence counsel that Mr Satchwell hand delivered a birthday card to her in August 2017 - five months after Tina Satchwell's disappearance - and it had been signed off with "Tina and Richard".
At the conclusion of Ms Howard's evidence, counsel for the State told the jury that the prosecution's case was now at an end.
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 gardaí in October 2023 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.
In interview with gardaí, Mr Satchwell described how he had put Ms Satchwell's body inside a large chest freezer in the shed two days later.
Giving evidence today, Sarah Howard told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, that her mother and Ms Satchwell's mother are sisters. Ms Howard said she would have been very close to Tina growing up as they both lived in Fermoy.
Asked to describe Ms Satchwell, the witness described her niece as kind-hearted, loving, a family person, social, bubbly, and someone who loved animals; "a genuinely lovely person".
In a video clip of RTÉ's from January 25, 2018, Ms Howard tells journalist Barry Cummins that her niece had never gone missing before and that she didn't know what had happened to her. Ms Howard describes Tina's disappearance as "a puzzle, a complete mystery" and said it was tearing the family apart not knowing where Tina was.
She finished off the interview by telling Mr Cummins that "someone has to know something" and that someone "can't just disappear".
Ms Howard could be seen crying in the witness stand and wiping tears away as she watched the interview.
The witness said she last saw Ms Satchwell before Christmas in 2016 and described her niece as being "in great form" and "very happy". She said Tina didn't go anywhere without her dogs.
The prosecutor asked Ms Howard about March 26, 2017, the day she found out that Ms Satchwell was missing.
"I had called to my mother's house and I found out Tina was missing, I rang her phone straight away. When she didn't answer, I rang Richard's phone".
The witness said she asked Richard where Ms Satchwell was, why the dogs weren't with her and what had happened. "It was very unusual that the dogs were there, Richard just said they had an argument and she had left him," said Ms Howard.
Asked whether Mr Satchwell gave any details in relation to the circumstances surrounding Tina leaving, Ms Howard said the accused man told her that Tina had thrown "a cup or something at him".
The witness added: "He said she took a sum of money, that a sum of money was missing and he found her keys on the floor outside the house. She had sent him on an errand to Dungarvan; he said suitcases were missing".
Ms Howard also told the jury that Richard said the couple had been at a car boot sale on the Sunday before she went missing and that Ms Satchwell commented to her that she had wasted 28 years with him. "But I never heard any of that before," added the witness.
"In relation to violence, Richard told you Tina had thrown cups at him?" asked Ms Small. Ms Howard agreed but again said "she had never heard that before".
A print out of text messages from Mr Satchwell's phone between him and Ms Howard was shown to the witness, including where she had tried calling the accused on March 26, 2017.
On March 26, a message was sent from the accused to Ms Howard saying: "Sarah did you Mag, Sindy and Teresa have not heard anything from Tina". The witness told the jury that these women were her aunts and a niece.
On March 30, Mr Satchwell sent a text message to Ms Howard saying: "Sarah do you want our big chest freezer?".
Ms Howard told the jury she had not responded to this text message as she thought it was "very unusual and very strange", and began to cry on the stand. The witness said Richard wouldn't "be the kind to just give stuff".
She added: "We were at a car boot sale once and my two children were with me. Richard was at his stall and Tina was looking around and buying. I think the kids picked up nail varnish and a CD [from Richard's stall]. He charged them 50 cents".
Ms Howard told the jury: "So when I was offered something like that for free I thought it was very unusual."
The next text message was sent on April 10, where Mr Satchwell told that he discovered a "birth cert and marriage cert" were gone.
On June 27, Mr Satchwell sent another text message to Ms Howard saying: "I know Tina is your family and I'm not so please try to understand that I love her with all my being. She's only my wife, she is my life and my best friend, my everything. I'm finding it difficult to get through the days. You know that I cry all the time even now writing this...I feel I let her down in some way".
On July 2, the accused sent Ms Howard a text message saying he was setting up a website dedicated to Tina "where we decide what goes on it".
Ten days later, Mr Satchwell sent another message saying: "Sarah I've just pulled into Tesco there is the same suitcase that Tina took with her, same size too. Richard".
Ms Howard told the prosecutor that she didn't have any further communication with Richard after this message.
"Did you ever witness Tina being violent or aggressive?" asked Ms Small, to which Ms Howard replied: "Never."
In cross-examination, Brendan Grehan SC, asked the witness if was fair to say Richard Satchwell appeared to be "devoted" to Tina. Ms Howard said he was.
The defence counsel put it to Ms Howard she had said in her statement that Mr Satchwell was "besotted if not obsessed" with Tina. The witness said Mr Satchwell was always with her niece when she was visiting.
"Before Tina's remains were discovered, you said he was so obsessed and besotted with her that he couldn't have caused her harm?" asked Mr Grehan. "That was before," replied the witness.
She agreed that Ms Satchwell was close to her grandmother Florence, as she had effectively raised her. The witness agreed with Mr Grehan that Ms Satchwell thought her grandmother Florence was her mother for a long time and would have called Florence her mother.
Asked about her niece Lorraine Howard, Ms Howard said Lorraine was a half-sister to Tina but had fallen out with her. The witness said she didn't know why this happened.
The witness was asked whether she ed gardaí asking her why there had been a falling out with Ms Satchwell and her family in 2006.
Mr Grehan told the witness: "I think you indicated the only incident you is that Tina was given up by her mother Mary Collins and raised by her grandmother Florence?". Counsel put it to Ms Howard that Ms Satchwell was very resentful when she found out about this. The witness said she couldn't say.
She recalled Richard Satchwell telling her after the disappearance that Ms Satchwell had been very violent. The witness agreed she had told gardaí that Richard said Tina used to throw cups at him and he said he had a lot of scars on his head, but she didn't believe Tina was violent.
Ms Howard said she had never seen Ms Satchwell violent.
Earlier, Garda Clinton Rock told Ms Small that he took photos at Cobh Garda Station in February 2025 of the dressing gown and belt found on Tina Satchwell's body. The garda said he had removed the dressing gown from an evidence bag and it was in a very poor state. He said he had searched both pockets of the dressing gown and no items were found.
Under cross-examination, the garda agreed with Mr Grehan that the dressing gown was too frail or brittle to be examined by a forensic scientist when it was recovered in October 2023, and is now considered a "biohazard".
Mr Grehan put it to the witness that the dressing gown was in a far worse state in February 2025 then when it was recovered in October 2023. The garda said there was a fungus growing on it.
"It also appears to be disintegrating in parts, do I take it that includes the pockets?" asked Mr Grehan.
The garda said he didn't find any holes in the pockets but it wouldn't take much for the dressing gown to fall apart. The witness agreed it was possible that if there was a ring in one of the pockets it could have fallen out. He further agreed the knot on the belt was never opened so there wasn't a true measurement of the belt available.
The trial has heard that Mr Satchwell told gardaí that Tina's wedding ring was in a pocket of her dressing gown, but no wedding ring was documented during the post mortem of the deceased's remains.
The next witness, now retired Garda Inspector Sean Leahy said he received a phone call from Mr Satchwell on July 12, 2017. The accused told him he was in a Tesco car park in Youghal and two suitcases in the recycling area were very similar to two suitcases Tina had with her when she left in March 2017. Mr Leahy said he rang Youghal Garda Station and asked a garda to meet him.
Garda Susan Nolan said she met the accused on July 12 in the car park in Youghal and he had pointed out two cases by the recycling bins. "He said they were similar suitcases to what was at the house but they weren't actually theirs".
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.
Mr Satchwell (58), with an address at Grattan Street, 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.
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