Family members ‘shaken' by ‘despicable' murder of Tina Satchwell, court hears
Before Satchwell was handed the mandatory life sentence for murdering Tina at their Youghal home in March 2017, Tina's sister and niece gave victim impact statements at the Central Criminal Court.
Sarah Howard, who introduced herself to the court as Tina Dingivan's niece, said she would always carry the emotional toll of losing her aunt.
She said she would struggle to overcome the fact that Satchwell had offered to give her a chest freezer that he had put Tina's body in, and asked the court to consider not just the crime, but the 'cruelty' and 'deception' that followed.
'I am here today to speak about my aunt Tina who was taken from us in the most tragic and violent way, murdered by someone who claimed to love her,' she said.
'I cannot comprehend how someone who was supposed to love and protect her could do something so cruel.
'There are no words that can truly capture the pain and heartbreak this has caused me and my family.
'What happened to her has shaken me to my core, and I can never be the person I was before this happened.
'The emotional toll of her loss is something I carry with me always. Tina was not just my aunt but my best friend and one of the most important people in my life and my children's lives.
'I miss Tina everyday, it makes me so sad when I think of all the things she missed in my life. Tina should have been standing beside me on my wedding day and all the important things before, like going wedding dress shopping which I know she would have loved, and the most recent event, the birth of my baby girl, she would have been an incredible support.
'Listening to all the lies in the court was very hard and knowing now all the horrible things that were done to her, such as being just wrapped in a piece of plastic and buried in such an undignified way cause me huge amounts of distress.
'Richard Satchwell decided to portray Tina in a way during the trial that is not true to who she was.
'Tina was not a violent person, she was caring, gentle and loyal to those she loved. Having her name tarnished during the trial was very difficult.
'This trial has also ruined the last few weeks of my pregnancy with all the stress from the trial and having to leave my baby in the first few weeks of her life to give evidence and to be at the trial for Tina was something I shouldn't have had to do.
' One of the things I don't think I will ever overcome is to find out that Richard Satchwell had put Tina in a chest freezer and then a few days later he text me to offer me the freezer.
'To hear this just horrified me to think I could have taken it into my family home and used it. What sort of person can do that?
'I ask that the court consider not just the crime but the cruelty that followed it and the deception, the stolen years and the false hope he gave us all that one day she might turn up. This has left a permanent hole in our lives.'
Lorraine Howard, who introduced herself to the court as Tina Dingivan's sister, said that Satchwell had stolen Tina from her family and friends – before he killed her – by isolating her from them.
She said that she still has nightmares about how her sister died and gets shivers down her spine when she thinks of how Satchwell buried her under the floor of their Youghal home.
'As the court heard during the trial, myself and Tina were inseparable growing up in Fermoy as kids,' she said.
'We did all the usual kids things: play, went to school, got into mischief but always had each other's backs.
'From as long as I can remember Tina loved animals, there was always cats and dogs following Tina around. She hated seeing any animal neglected or in pain.
'She was so kind-hearted, I often remember myself and Tina bringing stray animals to the vet and the vet not being able to say no to us or turn us away. That was Tina – she was gentle and had such a soft and loving soul.
'Tina's love of fashion was portrayed as a negative throughout the trial, we all have our interests and likes, it just so happened Tina's was fashion.
'She saved her money and spent it on clothes, she would often buy clothes for family members as presents.
'Tina did not drink, go out and fashion was her escape. Fashion, in a sense, saved her.
'As is normal in all families, siblings fall out, and during the trial the country heard how myself and Tina fell out. I don't want to get into the reasons again, but what I do know was that myself and Tina would have made up and become best of friends again.
'Richard Satchwell stole that from us and actually Richard Satchwell stole that from many people even before he murdered Tina, by isolating her and alienating her from her many friends when she was alive.
'Richard Satchwell pushed a narrative for years that Tina was this violent and coercive-natured woman when in fact that couldn't be any further from the truth.
'I am so thankful that the jury could see through his lies and found him guilty of this despicable crime. We will never again get to be sisters.
'He stole an aunt from my kids who never got to meet poor Tina. I know she would have loved her goddaughter Clodagh so much because of their shared characteristics and likeness of animals and fashion.
'When I came up to the trial five weeks ago I never thought that it would take such a physical toll on mine and Tina's mother, seeing a woman that was put through so much pain before was almost unbearable to watch.
'My brother's name and suicide being brought up time and time again made an already horrendous situation worse, watching me being used to help the defence was like pouring salt into an open wound.
'It was intolerable for me, my mother, my children and my extended family.
'Hearing all the gruesome details and seeing photographs and many hours of media and Garda interviews was mentally draining.
'It has taken a physical toll on my body as well. I can't sleep, eat and keep waking out of my sleep having nightmares over Tina's final moments and thinking about what my poor sister went through.
'The appalling way my sister was buried, wrapped in plastic, buried beneath soil and concrete runs shivers down my spine every time I think about it.
'I feel Tina's presence with me in every step taken around Fermoy town where there are so many happy memories, from the park to the river walks and especially the bridge, her catwalk.
'I feel that no sentence could ever be enough for the monster that took Tina from us.
'How could someone who claims to love and adore his wife spread the rubble from the man-made grave, that he dug and buried her in around all their most 'special places', even down to where he proposed to her.
'He treated Tina's body with such disrespect. He showed Tina's dog in death more respect by getting the dog cremated and making a shrine.
'He wanted Tina where he could still have the ultimate control, within his home under the stairs.
'He put us as a family through the ultimate hell of not knowing what had happened to Tina for years. He manipulated us as the master manipulator he is into believing she would one day return.
'Having taken her life he didn't even have the decency to let us have her body and mourn her death. To bury her with the dignity she deserves. I will never be able to forgive Richard Satchwell for what he has done.
'I just want to thank a few people who helped get justice for Tina
'To the prosecution team of Gerardine Small, Imelda Kelly, Maria Brosnan and Catherine McEleer, I can't thank you enough for presenting the evidence to the jury and for all the hard work in preparing for the trial.
'To Superintendent Ann Marie Twomey and Detective Garda David Kelleher for finding the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and fitting them together to find Tina and bringing her home to us, thank you so much.
'To the judge and jury who heard and had to consider all the evidence of the case, we're sorry as a family that you have had to deal with such traumatic evidence and know that it must have taken its toll on you.
'We will be forever grateful for the care you took in examining the evidence and reaching your unanimous verdict.
'Lastly I want to thank our family liaison officer Clar Quirke, without whom we simply wouldn't have got through this process.'
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