Sometimes you have to behead someone if they are possessed
Court hears husband’s interview
A MAN accused of murdering his wife told gardai he heard voices and that “sometimes you have to behead somebody because this person is possessed”.
Diego Costa Silva also told gardai 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,” a court heard.
The Central Criminal Court jury hearing his trial has been told they will be asked to return a “special verdict” under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006.
Costa Silva, 35, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Fabiola Camara De Campos Silva, 33, on November 4, 2021, at their home in Charlestown Place, Finglas, North Dublin.
Det Gda Carl Smith yesterday told Edward Doocey BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, that gardai interviewed Costa Silva five times at Finglas Garda Station on November 4 and 5, 2021.
Costa Silva told gardai that he and his wife arrived in Ireland five years earlier and lived in Cabra before moving to Finglas.
FIGHT
Before he killed his wife, he said he had been in the Mater Hospital having been detained by gardai after he was stopped while running in Dublin city centre in his bare feet and wearing only a pair of 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 gardai 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. He added: “I took her head, I took a knife and I cut 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
I took her head, I took a knife and I cut her head
DIEGO COSTA SILVA TO GARDAI, COURT HEARD
he used and said it took about 10 minutes to remove her head.
Costa Silva called gardai 10 or 15 minutes later.
He said he had previously cheated on his wife and told her about it.
She was upset and their relationship became strained, 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”.
Det Sgt Louise Mchugh told Mr Shane Costelloe SC, for the DPP, that following Costa Silva’s interviews, he was released from detention and she arrested him and charged him with his wife’s murder. He did not reply.
Garda Colin Miley told Mr Costelloe that two days before the killing he was on bike patrol at about 3.20pm when he saw Costa Silva running barefoot, wearing only shorts on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin city centre.
Gda Miley caught up with Costa Silva near the Spire on O’connell St and found him to be distressed and disorientated, his eyes were bulging and he was sweating profusely.
The garda noted cuts and grazes to his feet and when asked what he was doing, Costa Silva said he had jogged from Finglas to the city centre and he likes to jog barefoot.
When asked if he was “OK”, Costa Silva said he was upset and depressed following an argument with his wife.
Garda Miley had a concern regarding Costa Silva’s mental health and detained him under section 12 of the Mental Health Act to be examined by a doctor.
The trial continues today in front of Mr Justice Michael Macgrath and a jury.