A daughter of Patricia O’Connor said her partner began crying and told her “I’m sorry, but I hurt your mam” before he went to tell gardaí he had killed and dismembered her.

Louise O’Connor told gardaí murder accused Kieran Greene told her he “panicked” after her mother lashed out at him with a hurl and “I have to hand myself in, I can’t live with this”. She said she was “stunned” and thought it was a “sick joke”.

A Central Criminal Court jury was hearing evidence in the trials of Mr Greene (34), who is accused of killing Ms O’Connor (61), and three other people charged with impeding the murder investigation.

The grandmother’s remains were found scattered at nine locations over a 30km-wide area in the Wicklow mountains between June 10 and 14, 2017. She died from blunt force trauma to the head caused by at least three blows.

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Mr Greene denies murdering Patricia O’Connor, the mother of his then-partner Louise, at the house they shared at Mountain View Park, Rathfarnham, on May 29, 2017.

Louise O’Connor (41), her daughter Stephanie O’Connor (22) and Louise O’Connor’s ex-partner Keith Johnston (43) all deny acting to impede Mr Greene’s apprehension or prosecution.

Stephanie O’Connor is alleged to have disguised herself as her grandmother on the night of the alleged murder to pretend she was still alive, while her mother Louise is accused of agreeing to this.

Mr Johnston is alleged to have helped Mr Greene in buying implements to use in the concealment of Patricia O’Connor’s remains and to have refurbished the bathroom at the house to destroy or conceal evidence.

Yesterday Garda Andrew Quinn told the court he was on duty on June 1, 2017 when two men came to the counter: Richard O’Connor and ‘Gus’ O’Connor, son and husband of Patricia O’Connor, to report her missing.

On June 12, Gda Quinn was on duty when he became aware Kieran Greene was in the station “claiming to have killed and dismembered the body of Patricia O’Connor”.

He later went to an address at Millbrook Lawns, Tallaght and took a statement from Louise O’Connor.

She said she lived at the house with her parents, her partner of 10 years Kieran Greene and her five children.

She had lived there all her life and her mother had left when Louise was five or six and returned 16 years ago.

She said her mother had retired from Beaumont Hospital the previous July and had been “extremely hard to live with”. Her mother was “constantly giving out”.

On the night she went missing, there had been arguments about receipts her mother would not give her and about car insurance. Her mother “went mad”, “tried to hit me with a teapot” and was shouting at Mr Greene, she said.

There was also an argument because her mother was “smoking weed”, her regular supplier had none and Louise O’Connor refused to get some.

She said her mother left the house and said: “I’ll be back when that bastard pops his clogs and I get what’s mine.”

Her father later reported her missing and as thee week went on “we became worried about Mam”.

Mr Greene seemed to be getting stressed and irritated. She said, “this evening, Kieran lost it, he was crying and hugging the kids and saying, if you do something wrong, you have to face up to it”.

“He told me, ‘I’m sorry but I hurt your mam. I didn’t mean to, she was lashing out at me with a hurl.”

The trial continues.

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