A 35-year-old man who killed his wife was distressed and disoriented while running barefoot, wearing only shorts in Dublin city centre two days previously, the central criminal court has been told.
Diego Costa Silva has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 33-year-old wife Fabiole Campara de Campos Silva in November 2021.
The jury has been told they will have to consider his state of mind at the time.
Garda Colin Miley told the court he was on patrol on his bicycle at around 3.20pm on the afternoon of 2 November 2021.
He saw Mr Silva running barefoot wearing only shorts on middle Abbey Street.
He caught up with him at the Spire and found him to be distressed and disoriented.
The garda said Mr Silva’s eyes were bulging and he was sweating profusely. He had cuts and grazes to his feet.
Mr Silva said he had jogged to the city centre from Finglas and that he liked to jog barefoot.
He told the garda he was upset and depressed following an argument with his wife.
He said he had recently confessed to his wife that he had cheated on her by kissing another woman.
And he said he suspected his wife was having an affair or affairs as revenge.
Garda Miley said Mr Silva was incoherent and he was concerned about Mr Silva’s mental health.
He detained him under the Mental Health Act and with colleagues took him to Store Street Garda Station where he was seen by a doctor and agreed to go voluntarily to the Mater Hospital to be assessed.
On the way to the hospital he said Mr Silva was crying and seemed highly distressed and told a nurse he was feeling suicidal.
After his arrest for the murder of his wife, Mr Silva told gardaí that he did not get an examination in the Mater and had decided to leave the next day after spending the night in the hospital.
He said he was not on any medication for his mental health and the only medication he took was weed.
Drug paraphernalia was found in his apartment and he said he smoked one or two joints a day if he had it.
He said he had last smoked weed three days before killing his wife.
In his interviews with gardaí he said he “wasn’t feeling safe” with his wife and thought she could kill him if he did not kill her first.
He said he had choked her, put his foot on her neck, then put a knife to her heart before taking her head.
He also described hitting her on the head with a glass or mug.
Asked what he meant about “taking her head”, he told gardaí: “Sometimes you have to behead someone because this person is possessed.”
He said he and his wife had been together 15 years since they were in college and had come to Ireland five years ago. He said they had friends in Ireland but no family.
During garda interviews while recordings of his calls to emergency services were played to him, he told gardaí he could hear voices and felt a strong power over his body.
He said he had “electronics” in his face. He told them he felt his family were in danger from his wife’s family.
The jury are expected to hear evidence from expert forensic psychiatrists tomorrow after which they are expected to begin considering their verdict.
