This article is from page 14 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
SHARON Collins’s two sisters brief- ly gave evidence on behalf of the de- fence to the trial last Tuesday. Introducing themselves to the court in Irish, Maire Ui Liduihigh and Cait Ui Donnachan, between them,
spent less than ten minutes giving evidence.
Maire Ui Liduihigh explained how she was married to Sean and lived in Galway since 1994 or 1995. Asked by Sharon Collins’s barrister Paul O’Higgins had she stayed with her in Ennis in August 2006, she replied,
“No, absolutely not.”
She explained she was older than the accused. She said Sharon went to school in Ennis and left at age 18 or 19, having passed her Leaving Cer- tificate. She said Sharon got married at age 19 and had two sons. Asked when the marriage had come to an
end, she replied, “I’m not sure.”
She said her mother’s maiden name was Cronin and her father, Charles Coote, was deceased.
‘My parents were separated for a long number of years. I’d have been an adult when they separated. I think She would have been an adult as well,
possibly a teenager,” she said.
Cait Ui Donnachan spent two min- utes in the witness box, during which she said she was married to Conail. Asked did she stay with Sharon in Clare in 2006, she replied, “No, I did not. . . | wasn’t there in July or Au- gust 2006. I’m certain about that.”