A Belfast man on trial for murdering his wife has been described as a “very gentle, very kind” man by the couple’s eldest child.
The daughter of accused Gary Alexander Baird was called to give evidence at Belfast Crown Court where she spoke of concerns regarding her father’s mental health prior to the fatal hammer attack.
Baird (64) has already admitted attacking his 60-year old wife Susan with a hammer and has pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter but this plea has not been accepted by the prosecution.
Mrs Baird died from a catastrophic head injury in their Windermere Road home on the afternoon of August 16, 2020.
During the fifth day of the hearing, the defence called the eldest of the couple’s four children to the witness box.
Describing her relationship with her mother, the 38-year old nurse said: “She was kind, she was caring, she was my best friend. She was a devoted Christian and her family was everything.”
When asked the same question about her father Gary, she said: “We talk regularly. We have many conversations and confided in each. He was always good at advice. Very gentle, very kind.”
Asked to describe her father’s character in the family home, she replied: “He went to work. He played with us as children. He was the advisor, the one you went to for advice and support.
”He was quiet, he was fun. He was always joyful, making Dad jokes.”
When asked to describe the family unit, she said they were “close, very close ... a normal family” but confirmed her parents went through a difficult period.
She was then asked about her mother sending a solicitor’s letter to her father in January 2017 and whilst she confirmed this did happen, she said her parents went to counselling and reconciled.
She was questioned about events in 2020 and “that fateful month of August 2020″ and confirmed her parents went on a cruise in January of that year.
She was also shown a picture of her parents in Portrush with the caption ‘Holidays excited’ and - with her voice breaking with emotion - said this image was sent by her mother from a trip the couple took together in July 2020.
Asked about her father’s mental health, the nurse said became aware there were issues around 2013 which became acute in mid July 2020.
The jury has already been shown CCTV footage of Baird walking onto a road and being hit by a bin lorry on Belfast’s Bedford Street ten days before the hammer attack.
As a result, Baird was hospitalised and required treatment for serious wounds to his left hand.
When asked if her father, when depressed, was a “burden” to her mother, she said: “Yes”.
She also confirmed her father “acknowledged” he was a burden to his wife whilst depressed.
The final line of questioning regarded contact she and her siblings have had with their father following their mother’s death.
The couple’s eldest child told the court: “We see him in person a few times a month and we talk, as a foursome, every day. I talk to him once or twice a week.”