Kilkenny murder trial: Malone told Gardai he argued with woman hours before she was found strangled

A man accused of the murder of a widowed pensioner in Kilkenny in 1987 told gardai that he had argued with her over a pigeon hours before she was found strangled, his cold-case trial has heard.

John Joseph Malone is charged with murdering 69-year-old Ann ‘Nancy’ Smyth on September 11, 1987 at her home on Wolfe Tone Street in Kilkenny City. She was strangled before fire was set to her house.

The 53-year-old of Newpark in Kilkenny City has pleaded not (NOT) guilty. Details of his garda interviews were read to the Central Criminal Court this (Friday) morning on the eleventh day of his trial.

Retired Superintendent Paschal Connolly gave evidence of 11 interviews conducted with the accused a few days after the killing. He said Mr Malone had not, at first, told gardai that he had been in contact with Mrs Smyth in the early hours of that morning. However, in later interviews, he admitted arguing with her outside her home around 12.40am.

He said he’d been walking to a disco and met her at the door of her house, talking to herself. He said he told her that one of his pigeons was in her loft and that he wanted it. He said they’d argued, that he might have gone inside the gate but not inside the house.

He said the interaction lasted 30 minutes and that he then went home.

“No-one saw me go home. That’s why I’m here, he said.

The trial continues this afternoon.