A woman on trial for simulating the suicide of her housemate in Co Cavan told gardaí she was disgusted when she found her body.
34-year-old Egita Juanmaize of no fixed address denies impeding the prosecution of a man by making a woman's death look like a suicide.
Stephanie Grogan reports from the Central Criminal Court.
The body of Latvian woman Antra Ozolina was found at her home in Kilnaleck in Cavan in June 2014
At first it was thought the 49-year-old had taken her own life but an autopsy showed evidence of blunt force trauma and neck compression.
The court heard her housemate Egita Juanmaize – who is also Latvian – gave three voluntary interviews to gardaí about the death.
A Detective Garda said Egita told him the two women had been drinking vodka and arguing on the night in question.
Egita said she told her to ‘f** off’ , went to bed and the next morning she said she found her body.
She said it was disgusting and she didn’t want to talk about it.
During a second Garda interview, Egita said a man had also been present at the house that night as he lived there - but she had not mentioned it because she was afraid the landlord would find out.
She gave a third voluntary interview then and soon after, the court heard, she was then no longer treated as a witness but a suspect and was arrested for assault causing harm.
The court heard Egita didn’t know why she was being arrested and said 'I didn’t do it'.
