3 days ago
Only the introduction of Tina's maiden name could stir a response from ‘monster' Richard Satchwell
'My name is Sarah Howard. I am
Tina Dingivan's
niece.'
Richard Satchwell
, the man about to be sentenced to life for Tina's murder, moved his head up, ever so slightly, when her name was spoken.
Throughout the trial, the woman he killed, his wife, was referred to as Tina Satchwell. His name.
Sarah finished reading her victim impact statement.
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If it made any impact, he certainly didn't show it. He never once looked at her.
But she made sure to look at him as she passed by the dock, an expression of disgust on her face.
Next up.
'My name is Lorraine Howard. I am Tina Dingivan's sister.'
Again, just a tiny movement of the head at the mention of that name.
Lorraine finished reading her victim impact statement.
Satchwell, motionless, eyes cast down, ignored her too.
It was only the pointed use of Tina's family name which seemed to stir some flickers of awareness.
Lorraine Howard said Richard Satchwell 'stole' precious time she would have had with her sister, Tina (pictured). Photograph: Irish Examiner
Both women called him out for the cruel, manipulative 'monster' he really is. They described how he continued to torture them with public outpourings of his love for his 'missing' wife after he killed her and hid the body.
They told him how his need to have 'ultimate control' over Tina led to her violent death and a lifetime of pain for her grieving family.
Sarah and Lorraine may as well have been talking to the wall.
Minutes later, Satchwell's lawyer would confirm to the court that he intends to appeal his conviction. He believes he didn't murder Tina. A jury of his peers agreed unanimously that he did. He couldn't control them.
And what Tina's sister and niece did from the witness stand in court number six on Wednesday was something he can never control either – they gave her back her name, the one she had before she met him, reintroducing the woman they knew before his malign influence infested her life.
He believes he didn't murder his wife, Tina Satchwell. She belonged to him. He loves her.
But, as the court case revealed, and her sister and niece confirmed, he couldn't allow a life for Tina Dingivan.
When her maiden name was so deliberately introduced – no mention of his, it was a simple, but very powerful gesture by her family.
Richard Satchwell holding a photo of his missing wife Tina at their home in Youghal, Co Cork. Photograph: Irish Examiner
And perhaps, with those slight flickers of recognition, Richard Satchwell knows that too.
There was little surprise in court when Judge Paul McDermott was told that the English-born, Cork-based lorry driver intends to fight on.
He thinks he should not have been found guilty of murdering his wife and dumping her body in a chest freezer before entombing her in a concrete grave under the stairs in their home and then contacting her niece to offer her the empty freezer.
Always thinking of others.
Gardaí and Fr Bill Bermingham after human remains are found following the search of Richatd and Tina Satchwell's home in Youghal, Co Cork. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
'To think I could have taken that into my family home and used it. I mean, what kind of person can do that?' said Sarah, in disbelief.
But the theatrically loving husband believes he should not be sent down for life because 'he never intended to kill her', said defence counsel Brendan Grehan, acting under instruction from his client.
Furthermore, counsel said, Satchwell wanted it to be known that 'despite anything that was said in this trial, Tina was a lovely person'.
You could hear people catch their breath in the back rows, where Tina's family and friends were seated.
Satchwell's self-centred delusion still had the capacity to surprise after a five week trial.
'It's not right,' a woman in the public gallery loudly whispered as the court rose and the prisoner quickly exited, head down, looking at nobody.
Despite feeling so strongly about the nature of his conviction, and being so keen to underline how he wanted people to know that 'Tina was a lovely person' (after lying about her being violent towards him and running off with their life's savings), he made no reaction when his barrister delivered his message for him.
But despite all which was said during the trial, Richard wanted to seem nice in public about the 'lovely' woman he murdered.
Self-serving until the very end.
The details of the case have been well aired. It's the stuff of true crime TV potboilers. But the callous nature of Satchwell's cover-up and his co-option of Tina's grieving family into his sickening narrative of a heartbroken husband desperate for the return of his missing wife was laid bare by the emotional testimony of Sarah and Lorraine.
Mary Collins, the mother of Tina Dingivin. Photograph: Collins Courts
As Tina's mother Mary Collins listened from the body of the court, Lorraine said Satchwell 'stole' the precious time she would have had with her sister, time he also stole from others 'even before he murdered her by isolating and alienating her from her many friends when she was alive'.
How could anyone who claimed to love his wife so much do what he did?
'I feel no sentence could ever be enough for the monster who took Tina from us.'
What does a monster look like?
A monster looks like a nondescript bespectacled little man in a rumpled over-sized blue and white striped shirt which hangs out over his navy trousers. He silently sits with his stubbled jaw resting on his fist, body angled away from the public and the witness box, head down. When told to stand for sentencing, he sticks his hands in his pockets and looks vacantly into the distance.
Cowardly, controlling Richard Satchwell murdered his wife.
Tina Dingivan's name lives on.
