A Polish woman is beginning a life sentence today after being found guilty of murdering a man she claimed was in love with her by driving them off a harbour in Wicklow in March 2013.
Marta Herda of Pairc na Saile, Emoclew Road in Arklow, Co Wicklow was handed the mandatory life sentence this afternoon.
Herda had denied deliberately driving her and Csaba Orsas off the South Quay in Arklow on a cold morning in March 2013.
She managed to swim to safety while her Hungarian colleague's body washed up on a beach two miles away a few hours later.
The lesser charge of manslaughter was open to the jurors, but they found the 29-year-old guilty of murder after deliberating for over eight hours.
Brother of Csaba Orsas, Zoltan Sandro, speaking to the media outside the Central Criminal Court in Dublin | Image: Rollingnews.ie
Herda worked with Csaba in the BrookLodge Hotel in Wicklow - where she claimed he had fallen in love with her.
She said she was afraid of him and could not take it anymore.
She made very little reaction when her interpreter whispered the jury’s verdict into her ear.
But she broke down and needed help to get to her feet after the mandatory life sentence was handed down a short time later.
Csaba's brother, Zoltan, gave this reaction afterwards.
He also says he was upset by Herda's depiction of his brother during the trial.
VIDEO: Zoltan Sandro says he was upset by Marta Herda's depiction of his brother during her murder trial. pic.twitter.com/A7FmkWKPmG
— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) July 28, 2016
