Accused told gardaí he 'went blank' when he strangled Jasmine McMonagle, trial told

Murder accused Richard Burke told gardaí he “went blank” when he started “punching the f**k out of” Jasmine McMonagle and strangling her with a rope, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
 
The Central Criminal Court trial sitting in Monaghan also heard evidence that Mr Burke demonstrated to interviewing officers how he had strangled Ms McMonagle and said he still had a hold of the rope when he heard gardaí knocking on the kitchen window.

“I just put the rope round her neck, just pulled on it. I was standing holding the rope when the gardai knocked.”

He said he was standing up, not on top of her, and had his foot by her side. He said Ms McMonagle was in a “massive pool of blood” and said he called her name and tried to check for a pulse but couldn’t find one.

He said gardaí were “banging really hard” and the baby was asleep in the sitting room.

Mr Burke recounted how he was afraid gardai would wake the baby up and said his temper was “rising and rising”. He said at one point, Ms McMonagle’s 8-year-old daughter came downstairs calling for her Mammy.

He said after he “came around” he took the rope from Ms McMonagle’s neck and used a high chair to block the door in case gardaí tried to get in.  

Mr Burke (32), of Killygordon, County Donegal, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms McMonagle at Forest Park, Killygordon on January 4, 2019 but guilty to manslaughter.  

During the course of three interviews conducted with gardaí following Ms McMonagle’s killing, Mr Burke also said he hated violence towards women and denied using the meat cleaver to attack Ms McMonagle.

Mr Burke said that he and Ms McMonagle had been fighting and he “went ballistic” after he discovered she had made a 999 call to gardaí for help.

“I have a real bad temper, I just blanked I went ballistic absolutely fucking ballistic,” Mr Burke said.  

“Because I hate guards I just went ballistic, started punching the f**k out of her then strangling her with a rope. I was only trying to make her see sense.”

Sergeant Brendan McCann, the main investigating officer in the case, told Patricia McLaughlin BL, prosecuting, Mr Burke took part in three interviews with gardaí at Letterkenny Garda Station following his arrest on January 4, 2019.

Sergeant Brendan McCann

The interviews, conducted by Detective Garda Stephen McGonagle and Garda Stephen Moyles, were read to the court by Ms McLaughlin.  

During the interviews, Mr Burke began to cry as he told gardaí what happened in the moments leading up to Ms McMonagle’s death.  

He said he was “shouting and screaming” at Ms McMonagle and was very angry.

The accused said he went to the toilet and when he came back he realised Ms McMonagle had phoned gardaí while he was out of the room.

“Once I heard guards, that was the end of it,” he said.

“All I remember is punching her, my mind is a pure blank, it’s like someone else took over. I remember my hand being sore. I do remember strangling her and then tap tap tap. Fuck.”

He said he then started cleaning the kitchen cupboards and walls, adding: “They [gardaí] smashed the back door and that set me off again. I had a meat cleaver and I stuck it in his arm.”

He said the cleaver tore a bit of the garda’s jacket but “didn’t get as far as his arm”.

Describing the attack on Ms McMonagle, Mr Burke told gardaí: “I didn’t use weapons, just fists”.

He said “the blood was everywhere” and was starting to clot. “I tried to lift her, the blood just poured out of her mouth.”

Asked how many times he had hit Ms McMonagle, the accused replied: “How long is a piece of string”.

He said there was “no one to stop me”, adding: “Normally other people are there to calm me down. I was like a bull.”

Asked about the rope used to strangle the mother-of-two, Mr Burke said: “I don’t know if it was the rope or the beating. I reckon it was the rope that finished it.”

“I killed her. I didn’t want to man. I loved her so much.”

He said he and Ms McMonagle had been in the kitchen listening to music when he threw the first punch.

Asked where the meat cleaver came into the equation, Mr Burke said: “To be honest with you I don’t know. It was my special knife so I must have thought I was going to use my special knife.”

Asked if he had used the meat cleaver, Mr Burke replied: “Only on the guards. I hate violence to women.”

Mr Burke also told gardaí he had worked in various jobs, including as a chef and as a barman.

He said he had battled with alcohol issues and had been addicted to herbal cannabis. He said before he had been a confident person but now he is “closed in”.

“I used to crack jokes and be funny now you’d be lucky to get anything out of me.”

The court heard a second interview took place on January 5, 2019 during which he told gardaí that prior to the attack on Ms McMonagle: “My temper was rising and rising and rising.”

He said he was shouting and had raised his voice.  

“I started saying you’ll see a different side of me if you don’t cop on,” he told gardaí.

Under cross-examination from Michael Bowman SC, Sgt McCann agreed that gardaí had been called by Ms McMonagle on a previous occasion in 2018 about concerns she had regarding the accused and when they spoke to Mr Burke he had presented as “erratic”.

He agreed that gardaí had concerns about Mr Burke’s presentation and he was subsequently admitted to a psychiatric hospital on a voluntary basis.  

Richard Burke

Sgt McCann also agreed that when gardaí attended at the house in Forest Park on January 4, 2019 Mr Burke was heard saying things that made no sense, including that he “owned all the banks” and “had all the power”.

Sgt McCann confirmed to prosecuting counsel that a urine sample provided by the accused following his arrest was positive for THC which is indicative of cannabis consumption.

The findings of a post mortem examination carried out by Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan were also read to the court by Ms McLaughlin.

In her report, Dr Mulligan noted various injuries sustained by Ms McMonagle including extensive facial swelling and bruising and incisional wounds to the right side of the head and the back of the right shoulder.

She said a ligature mark around the neck measuring 1cm in diameter may have been caused by the blue rope found at the scene or by a similar sized ligature.

She said Ms McMonagle was most likely unconscious when the strangulation occurred.

Dr Mulligan noted the blunt force trauma to the face may have been caused by fists or feet or the glass safety hammer found near the body or a similar weapon. She said Ms McMonagle may have been rendered unconscious by the blows.

She concluded death was as a result of ligature strangulation with concussion and blood loss from multiple blunt and sharp force injuries as a contributory factor.

The jury also heard today that a forensic scientist who analysed the scene in the aftermath of the killing concluded that blood splatter patterns in the kitchen of the property suggested that most of the beating sustained by Ms McMonagle occurred in the corner of the kitchen while she was sitting crouched or on the floor.

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