Richard Satchwell sentenced to life in prison for murder of his wife Tina Satchwell
Richard Satchwell
, who was found guilty last week of the murder of his wife
Tina Satchwell
, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced Satchwell at the
Central Criminal Court
on Wednesday morning.
After sentencing Richard Satchwell's legal team said that he intended to appeal the verdict.
Ms Satchwell's skeletal remains were found in a deep grave in an area under the stairs of the couple's
Co Cork
home in October 2023, more than six years after her husband reported her missing.
READ MORE
Satchwell (58), a lorry driver, had pleaded not guilty to murdering the 45-year-old at Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th, 2017. He claimed his wife had left him, taking their savings.
After the remains were uncovered during a forensic excavation, Satchwell had claimed that his wife flew at him with a chisel on the morning of March 20th, 2017, and, during a struggle, went 'limp' and died. He said he put her body on a couch, then in a chest freezer and, on March 26th, buried her under the stairs.
He was convicted of his wife's murder last Friday by unanimous verdict of the jury of seven women and five men, following more than nine hours of deliberation.
Lawyers for Satchwell had
unsuccessfully tried
to have the murder charge against him withdrawn and substituted with manslaughter in the fourth week of the trial.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott rejected arguments from Satchwell's defence team – made at the end of the evidence and in the absence of the jury – there was no evidence on which the jury could safely find Satchwell had the necessary legal intention for murder, to kill or cause serious injury to his wife,
Tina
.
That was 'a huge lacuna' in the prosecution case, defence counsel Brendan Grehan argued.
Tina Satchwell's family previously made a statement outside court, and said that Tina was 'portrayed in a way that is not true to who she was'.
Tina's cousin, Sarah Howard said: 'Tina was our precious sister, cousin, auntie and daughter. Her presence in our lives meant so much to us all. We as a family can never put into words the impact her loss has had on us.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
28 minutes ago
- Irish Times
State exams body defends ‘curveball' short story question in Junior Cycle English paper
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has defended the inclusion of a question on short stories that sparked controversy in the Junior Cycle English paper on the basis that it was 'fully within the scope' of the curriculum. In Wednesday's Junior Cycle English exam at higher level, candidates were asked to respond to a question about 'any short story they had studied'. It was worth 15 marks from a total of 180 marks for the exam. [ Classroom to College: our essential newletter on the State exams for parents, guardians and students ] However, many students reported that they had not studied any short stories during their three years of the Junior Cycle and left the question blank, while parents reported that children felt upset and confused in the middle of their first ever State exam. While many teachers have covered short stories, others said they have not on the basis that they struggle to cover the full curriculum of the revised Junior Cycle English specification, which has been examined for all candidates since 2017. A question on short stories has not come up in the exam in recent years. READ MORE A SEC spokesman said it was assured that the questions was 'fully within the scope of the specification and in keeping with the aims, objectives and learning outcomes for Junior Cycle English.' The spokesman said its exam papers and draft marking schemes are developed through a 'rigorous development process' and those involved are 'experts in the subject who are also experienced teachers.' The spokesman also noted that the Junior Cycle English specification includes guidelines for teachers on the choice of texts which should be studied by students in first year, and by those in second and third year. 'The specification includes short stories among the texts which must be studied by students in both first and second/third year,' he said. In addition, he pointed to the Department of Education list of prescribed materials for the second and third year of Junior Cycle English which issued to schools in 2022 for those sitting this year's exam. This circular states that 'second and third year students MUST study texts as described' and includes 'a number of short stories' in the list of texts. In the case of novels, films and dramas to be studied for examination, teachers choose from those on the prescribed lists as set out in the circular. In the case of poetry, short stories, and non-literary texts teachers have the freedom to choose specific examples. The spokesman noted that 'commentary and correspondence on the examinations from students, parents, teachers, professional bodies, and other interested parties' will be reviewed by the subject's chief examiner in the context of preparing the marking scheme, 'The approach taken by the SEC to the development of marking schemes ensures consistency in the marking and fairness to all candidates. The marking scheme will be published, as will the marking schemes in all other subjects, after the issue of the Junior Cycle results. About 60,000 students sat the higher level Junior Cycle English paper. While some teachers described the inclusion of the question as a 'curveball', most overall said they were happy with a 'balanced' and 'fair' exam.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Robert Pether's wife hopes his release from Iraqi prison will end ‘living nightmare'
An Irish resident who has been in jail in Iraq for the last four years is 'unrecognisable', his wife, Desree Pether, has said. Robert Pether, originally from Australia, was released on bail on Thursday. He was arrested in April 2021 along with an Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan on suspicion of theft. Mr Pether has been held in a cell with 20 other prisoners. The United Nations says it has been an arbitrary detention. The arrest arose out of a contract dispute. Mr Pether was an engineer working for the Dubai-based engineering firm CME Consulting on rebuilding Iraq's Central Bank headquarters in Baghdad. READ MORE His wife said Mr Pether is 'very sick at the moment' and she wants to bring him back to Ireland. The couple bought a former convent in Elphin, Co Roscommon, five years ago with a view to turning into a herbal therapy centre. She is an Irish citizen through her Dublin-born father. Last night she saw him for the first time in four years on video and it was a 'shock'. 'I was very happy to see him – but also to see the state of him, he was completely unrecognisable'. [ Robert Pether released on bail after four years in Iraqi jail Opens in new window ] 'It's a shock to the system to see how he has declined. He's not well at all. He needs to come home to get the proper medical care he needs.' Ms Pether said it has been a 'a living nightmare' to try and get her husband out from jail. She wants to get a travel ban on Mr Pether lifted so he can return to Ireland. 'I'm hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping we can get through this. It's been beyond frustrating. It's not over. It's one small step in the right direction,' she told the RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme. He has lost a lot of weight as he has been unable to eat properly since being incarcerated, she said. The couple have three children, Flynn, Oscar and daughter Nala. Tánaiste and Minster for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris welcomed Mr Pether's release. Robert Pether with his wife, Desree, who lives in Elphin with their children He was told yesterday evening by Iraq's foreign minister Fuad Hussein that Mr Pether was being released unconditionally. 'This is very welcome news in what has been a long and distressing saga for Robert's wife, three children and his wider family and friends,' the Tánaiste said.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
The life and tragic death of Sunny Jacobs: how a US death row exoneree ended up in Connemara
An isolated cottage in Connemara is as far away as one can imagine from an interstate truck stop in suburban Miami, but Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs could not escape tragedy in either location. There was shock at home and abroad on Tuesday when news broke that Jacobs (77) died in a house fire at her home in Glenicmurrin in Casla – a village in Connemara, Co Galway – along with her caretaker Kevin Kelly (31) in the early hours of that morning. Jacobs, who was originally from New York, had, by her own admission, become a 'poster child' for the worldwide lobby of those opposed to the death penalty, having spent five years on death row in the 1980s. Her life story has been told many times over. READ MORE It featured in a TV drama, In the Blink of an Eye (1996), and in a stage play, The Exonerated (2000), which was turned into a film in 2005 of the same name where she was played by Susan Sarandon. Her story was also told in a documentary, The Sunny Side Up (2019), her own book, Stolen Time (2007), and a book by former Miami Herald journalist Ellen McGarrahan entitled Two Truths and a Lie (2021). Sonia Lee Jacobs Linder was born in August 1947 to Herbert and Bella Jacobs, a wealthy Jewish couple from Long Island, New York. Her parents were hard-working textile merchants, but Jacobs didn't live up to their expectations. She became pregnant as a teenager, leading to a quick marriage to the father of her child, followed by a swift divorce. When her son Eric was two, Jacobs moved to Florida where her parents kept a home. They looked after her child. [ Death row survivor Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs found 'tranquility' in Connemara before death in house fire Opens in new window ] It was there she met Jesse Tafero, a charmer, but also a violent criminal. At the time, she was a 'hippy flower girl' and a vegetarian. Tafero was her biggest mistake. They had a daughter, Tina, together. On February 20th, 1976, Jacobs, Tafero, her two children and a fugitive named Walter Rhodes pulled over at a rest stop on Interstate 95, the highway that runs the length of the east coast of the United States. Rhodes had agreed to drive the couple and the children from Miami to a house in West Palm Beach farther north along the coast in Florida. They were all asleep in the car when a passing highway patrolman, Phillip Black, spotted a gun on the floor of the car. He ordered Rhodes and Tafero out of the car. Shortly afterwards, Black and a visiting Canadian police officer, Corporal Donald Irwin, were shot dead. Rhodes testified that Tafero and Jacobs shot the two police officers. They were sentenced to death and he, as the chief witness, was spared the electric chair. He later changed his testimony several times and admitted to the killing. Jacobs spent five years in solitary confinement on death row. Her death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1981. Tafero went to the electric chair in 1990 in a notoriously botched execution in which flames projected from his head. It took an agonising 13 minutes for him to die. Sunny Jacobs admitted to making mistakes in her early life, mistakes for which she paid a terrible price, but never admitted to murder or even being party to murder. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy Two years later, Jacobs won her appeal against her sentence and was released from prison after 16 years and 233 days, but there was a sting in the release. Rather than seeking a retrial, which the Florida state prosecutors were entitled to do, they entered into a special plea bargain known as an Alford plea. Jacobs did not admit guilt, but admitted the prosecutors had incriminating evidence against her. She would later state that she agreed to this plea under duress. The state of Florida was reluctant to admit it made a mistake in convicting her, she believed, as this would leave them open to paying her compensation. In her book Stolen Time, Jacobs recalled spending five years in solitary confinement because there was no death row for women. Her coping mechanisms would serve her well both in prison and when she was released. 'The work that had begun in my death row cell, which I had expanded into my everyday life in prison through yoga, meditation and prayer, now became a way of life and a paradigm for living in the world,' she wrote. She toured the world campaigning against the death penalty. It was while speaking at an event in Galway in 1998 that she met her future husband, Peter Pringle. Pringle, like Jacobs, had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was arrested and convicted of the capital murders of two gardaí, John Morley and Henry Byrne, who were shot dead by a republican paramilitary gang during a bank robbery in Ballaghaderreen , Co Roscommon, in July 1980. He was sentenced to death along with two other men. Their death sentences were commuted in 1981 by then president Patrick Hillery to penal servitude for 40 years. Pringle, though a known republican who had spent time in jail, always claimed he was not involved in the murders and was nowhere near the scene at the time. In 1995, his conviction was deemed to be unsafe and unsound by the Court of Appeal and he was released. He attended Jacobs's 1998 talk in Salthill and she noticed that he was crying during her presentation. They agreed to go for a cold water swim afterwards and fell in love. Sunny Jacobs and her husband Peter Pringle in Connemara, Co Galway, in 2012. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy 'I was 51 years old, in the sixth year of my new life when I met someone with whom I found the deep connection I had been seeking all my life. I hadn't been trying because I don't think I could ever find anyone to live with again,' she wrote in Stolen Time. They eventually married in New York in 2011. They lived in a number of houses in Connemara before settling in a three-bedroom cottage Glenicmurrin with views of the Twelve Pins mountains. 'Life has turned out beautifully,' Pringle told the Guardian in 2013. 'Sure, it's not without its difficulties. We have no money. But we do good work. We are at peace. And we have a great life together. We look forward and we live in the moment.' McGarrahan, the former Miami Herald journalist who wrote a book about Jacobs, was one of the witnesses to the execution of Tafero and was haunted by what she saw. She resolved to get to the truth of what happened on the layby of Interstate 95, given the many different versions of the truth. She concluded Tafero murdered the two policemen, but that Jacobs was not altogether innocent and had fired a taser gun from the back seat, which started the whole tragedy. Having reviewed the evidence, she concurred with the presentence hearing that she and Tafero had lived the 'classic fugitive lifestyle'. 'These individuals simply moved from place to place exchanging narcotics for whatever was available, and living from hand to mouth, day to day,' she wrote. That was then. Jacobs admitted to making mistakes in her early life, mistakes for which she paid a terrible price, but never admitted to murder or even being party to murder. Her husband Pringle died in 2023 at the age of 84. He had been looked after in his final years by Kelly, who also became Jacobs's carer, and who is originally from Moycullen, Co Galway. He was a dog lover who was involved with the local Madra charity. While Jacobs and Pringle lived in Connemara, many exonerees from around the world came to stay and avail of their hospitality. According to Ruairí McKiernan, a friend of Jacobs's, she lived a full life until she died, constantly advocating for victims of injustice. The rough boreen up to her house in Glenicmurrin was closed off this week by gardaí as forensic examinations of her cottage took place. It was a tragic end for a woman who had snatched happiness from one of the worst situations imaginable. Death in Connemara: who was Sunny Jacobs? Listen | 18:42
