Tina ‘had stabbed fiancé in earlier row’
NSW court hears evidence from couple’s housemate
A NEWLY engaged Irish woman who admitted killing her fiancé in Sydney had previously stabbed him in the head, a former flatmate has claimed in court.
Tina Cahill, 27, admitted the manslaughter of 29-year-old David Walsh after fatally wounding him in the neck on February 18 last year.
She was originally charged with murder but the prosecution accepted her plea to the lesser charge on the basis of substantial impairment due to an abnormality of the mind at the time.
Cahill gave psychiatrists a history of being in a traumatic relationship with Mr Walsh, one that was hallmarked by physical, emotional and verbal abuse over a period of time.
Both Cahill and Mr Walsh were
‘Large, very sharp bladed knife’
originally from Co. Wexford.
At New South Wales Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Peter Johnson heard disputed evidence from the couple’s previous housemate, who said she once saw Cahill stab Mr Walsh in the back of the head.
Isobel Jennings denied lying when she recalled Cahill saying: ‘I just wanted to kill him. I just wanted to kill him.’
Ms Jennings told how on the evening of October 3, 2015, after hearing Cahill and Mr Walsh arguing, she saw him sitting on the sofa before Cahill came up the stairs with her hand behind her back.
Cahill suddenly stabbed him to the back of his head three or four times, but Ms Jennings said Mr Walsh did not want her to contact police as he had said Cahill had not meant to hurt him, the court heard.
Under cross-examination from Cahill’s barrister, she denied making up the incident but agreed there had been house-related problems after she moved out.
The court also heard how Cahill was charged and convicted with one count of reckless wounding of Mr Walsh in relation to him being injured after she threw a large candle at him in November 2015..
The court yesterday heard how Cahill and Mr Walsh argued on the night of February 17, 2017, when they were drinking with others before Mr Walsh was thrown out of a pub and went back to their house in the suburb of Padstow.
After Cahill and their two female housemates arrived home with Matthew Hyde, with whom they had socialised at a pub. Mr Walsh repeatedly attacked the man, wanting to know who he was.
Cahill was punched by Mr Walsh when trying to stop the attack, before she took out a ‘large, very sharp, bladed knife’ from the cutlery drawer and stabbed him.
Mr Walsh’s five brothers, sister and parents were at home in Ireland at the time of his death. One brother, Jonathan Walsh, in a victim impact statement read out on his behalf, said when their father got the news he said: ‘I don’t want him up there on his own. I am going to be with him soon.’
Another brother, Patrick Walsh, wrote that their father died ten months later ‘from a broken heart’ while their mother had become an empty shell of her former self.
Cahill’s mother and father have travelled to Sydney for her court appearance.
Mr Walsh, of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, had three arrest warrants for assault charges outstanding against him.
Cahill had been living in Australia for four years.
The hearing continues.