A man found guilty of murdering Kilkenny woman Ann Butler in her home is due to be sentenced today.
30-year-old Trevor Rowe of Abbey Street Kilkenny had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the murder of 71 year old Ms Butler at her home in Maudlin St on March 20th 2020.
The trial, earlier this month, heard that on March 25th 2020, Gardaí had received a number of anonymous calls from a man who claimed to have killed a woman in a house behind a hotel in Kilkenny city.
Those calls were traced back to the accused, Trevor Rowe, who led Gardaí to Ann Butler’s door, but denied murdering her five days beforehand.
The State Pathologist told the court that Ann died from asphyxia after a piece of hard paper or cardboard was pushed down her throat obstructing her airways.
She also suffered blunt force trauma and had a potentially fatal cut to the throat as well as multiple stab wounds to her body.
The 12 jurors took just 1 hour and 19 minutes to unanimously reject a defence of intoxication put forward by Rowe’s defence.
Ms Justice Karen O’Connor will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to Rowe today.
The Butler family will also have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Ann’s death has had on their lives.
