Man told gardaí he cut off his wife’s head ‘because this person is possessed’
A MAN accused of cutting his wife’s head off told gardaí that he heard voices in his head and that ‘sometimes you have to behead somebody because this person is possessed’.
Diego Costa Silva, 35, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Fabiola Camara de Campos Silva, 33, on November 4, 2021, at their home in Finglas, Dublin 11.
Mr Costa Silva also told gardaí that he had confessed to cheating on his wife and that he believed she was going to try to kill him.
He said he didn’t feel safe and thought that if he didn’t do it, ‘she could do it to me’.
The Central Criminal Court jury hearing his trial has been told that they will be asked to return a ‘special verdict’ under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006.
Detective Garda Carl Smith yesterday told barrister Edward Doocey, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, that gardaí interviewed Mr Costa Silva five times at Finglas Garda Station on November 4 and 5, 2021. Mr Costa Silva told gardaí that he and his wife arrived in Ireland five years earlier and lived in Cabra before moving to Charlestown Place in Finglas.
Before he killed his wife, he said he had been in the Mater Hospital having been detained by gardaí after he was stopped while running in Dublin city centre in his bare feet and wearing only shorts.
When he was released from hospital, his wife picked him up and drove him home some time between 6pm and 8pm, he said. At about 6am, he said he had a ‘fight’ with his wife and he ‘wasn’t feeling safe’.
He told the detectives he has ‘hurt on my mind, a sound or vibration in my ear and a voice in my head’.
He later complained of having ‘something electronic in my ear’ and of hearing ‘so many voices’. He said he did not argue with his wife but the ‘fight’ started because ‘I just felt if I didn’t do it she could do it to me’.
When gardaí put it to him that his wife did not try to kill him, he replied that her behaviour ‘led me to believe she was going to try to kill me’. He described his wife biting him on the leg and scratching his shoulder with her nails before he struck her on the head two or three times with a cup.
He said he then began choking her before putting his foot on her neck. She fainted, he said, and he stabbed her ‘in her heart’ before cutting off her head. When asked why, he said: ‘How can I explain? Sometimes you have to behead somebody because this person is possessed.’
He described four knives that he used and said it took about ten minutes to remove her head. He called gardaí ten or 15 minutes later.
He said he had previously cheated on his wife and told her about it. She was upset, he said, but they stayed together. He said they loved one another and had been together for 15 years, since college.
He said he did not tell his wife about the voices and when asked if she knew there was something wrong, he said ‘she complained when I smoked weed’. He said he last smoked three days previously and would smoke one or two joints a day, more if he could get it. He said he does not take other drugs and his wife never smoked.
Detective Sergeant Louise McHugh told Mr Costelloe that following Mr Costa Silva’s interviews, he arrested him and charged him with his wife’s murder. He did not reply.
The detective agreed with defence barrister Garnet Orange that the accused’s only previous convictions are for minor road traffic matters. A urine analysis taken following his arrest was positive for cannabis.
Garda Colin Miley told Mr Costelloe that two days before the killing he was on bike patrol at about 3.20pm when he saw Mr Costa Silva running barefoot, wearing only shorts on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin city centre.
The garda noted cuts and grazes to his feet and when asked what he was doing, Mr Costa Silva said he had jogged from Finglas and he likes to jog barefoot. When asked if he was ‘okay’, Mr Costa Silva said he was upset and depressed following an argument with his wife. He told Garda Miley that he had confessed to her that he had cheated on her by kissing another woman and he suspected his wife was having an affair or multiple affairs as a punishment or revenge for what he had done.
Garda Miley detained him under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act to be examined by a doctor. Mr Costa Silva was taken to Store Street Garda Station where he agreed to go to the Mater Hospital to be assessed. When a nurse asked if he was feeling suicidal, Mr Costa Silva replied: ‘Yes.’
The trial continues today before Judge Michael MacGrath and a jury.
Tested positive for cannabis