O'Brien thanks supporters and jury

Waterford bus driver John O'Brien after he was found not guilty of killing his wife after a 19-day trial involving 121 witnesses

THE HUSBAND of murdered woman Meg Walsh expressed thanks yesterday for those who supported him during the investigation into her death and the trial.

Bus driver John O’Brien (41), from Ballinakill Downs in Waterford city, did not speak after the verdict.

But his solicitor Finola Cronin thanked the jury on his behalf and on behalf of his family for “looking at the facts and reaching their decision”.

In a statement to the media, she also thanked those members of his family and friends who had supported him through the 18 months since her disappearance and, those who stood by him during the trial.

She asked for space to allow the O’Brien family to “grieve for Meg and for John’s father who passed away during this traumatic time”.

Mr O’Brien did not react when the verdict was delivered at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.

He told the jury earlier this week that he had “no hand, act or part” in his wife’s death.

A jury of seven men and five women took five and a half hours to reach the unanimous verdict which was delivered just before lunchtime yesterday.

It followed a trial which lasted 19 days and involved 121 witnesses.

Mr Justice Barry White thanked the jury for their attention to the case and exempted them from jury service for life.

He added: “Sitting in judgement on your fellow man is not an easy or a pleasant task. You have spent the last four weeks sitting in judgement and have taken your task and duty seriously.”

Meg’s brother James Walsh reacted angrily to the verdict and said the family were “numbed and devastated”.

Flanked by Sasha Keating, Ms Walsh’s daughter from her first marriage, Mr Walsh said: “We are at a loss to know why this would happen to us. Meg lived through a terrible ordeal and kept her terrible difficulties to herself . . . ”

He described her as a “lovely woman, bubbly, happy and caring woman and we miss her terribly.

“She is the last thing we think about at night and the first thing we think about in the morning.

“All we can do now is depend on the memories we have of Meg, a great mother and a terrific woman to keep us going.”

Gardaí will now have to re-examine the case files as Ms Walsh’s death remains an unsolved murder.

A Garda statement said: “This investigation will now be subject of a review and all further actions deemed necessary will be taken”.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said the use of circumstantial evidence was justified in bringing prosecutions.

“Ultimately it is a decision for the DPP. The Gardaí have a job to do putting cases together.

“Criminals don’t have to worry about the law and the rules of evidence, but the guards and the DPP have to do it, in effect, with one hand behind their back.

“Being in a democracy, they have to uphold the rule of law and, in particular, the whole issue of evidence gathering. In that regard it is a constant battle. We have to guard jealously the fact that people are entitled to their innocence or their guilt and that’s a system that serves us well”.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times