The jury in the trial of a Louth woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death in a drunken row on New Years Eve, has been told that she was a woman with a temper, prone to acts of violence.

Paula Farrell, with an address at Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth denies murdering Wayne McQuillan at her home on January 1st 2014.

In closing statements, prosecutors painted a picture to the jury of a woman "full of anger" who had a history of lashing out at people and was usually the one to start the row. 

During the trial, Paula Farrell recounted the harrowing sexual abuse she had suffered as a child and alleged the night that she killed Wayne McQuillan he had sexually assaulted her. 

Prosecution counsel contented that the abuse outlined by the 42-year-old had nothing to do with the killing of Wanye McQuillan and urged jurors to remove any sympathy and emotion from their deliberations. 

Her allegation that her then boyfriend had sexually attacked her was "a lie" the prosecution said, highlighting that it had taken Ms Farrell 16 months to tell anyone about the incident, despite seeing several health experts and female Gardai. 

It was murder, Gerard Clarke told the jury of six women and four men. It had noting to do with childhood events, he added. 

"I'm sure you were all taken and aback and distressed by what happened to Ms Farrell as a child", he told the jury but said the events had taken place between 27 and 35 years before the death of her former boyfriend in the early hours of New Years Day in 2014. 

This wasn't a case of diminished responsibility on the part of the 42-year-old, he said, the real reason that the man was dead was because Paula Farrell had been drinking. 

Not only did she fail to tell Gardaí, but denied anything sexual had happened before she stabbed Wayne McQuillan four times, the prosecution said - she described him as a "lovely person" in interviews after the alleged attack.

It was murder "fuelled by drink" he concluded.