THE trial of a 44-year-old man accused of murdering his wife four years ago heard on Friday, June 25, that she may have taken up to two sleeping tablets on the night she died.

The details emerged during a second day of Stephen McKinney's interviews with police after his arrest on suspicion of her murder.

McKinney, now with an address in Castletown Square, Fintona in Tyrone, denies murdering his 35-year-old wife Lu Na during a family boating holiday on Upper Lough Erne on April 13, 2017.

For a second day, the Dungannon Crown Court jury of eight men and four women were provided with transcripts of two further interviews read to them in tandem by junior prosecution counsel and the detective who carried out the questioning in Omagh police station.

McKinney, who is originally from Strabane but lived with his family in Convoy, Co. Donegal, told detectives at his third interview how on the night of April 12, 2017, he and his wife were sitting on top of their pulled-out sofa bed in their cabin, and he had taken "a few sips'' from his beer he was drinking.

"We were happy, just sitting there talking,'' said McKinney. "The kids were in their bedroom and we were talking. Happy enough.''

He was then asked about his wife taking sleeping tablets that night and how many she had consumed.

McKinney replied: "She took one to two. It is unlikely she took more. I didn't see her putting them in her mouth.''

He said he didn't remember passing her the blister of sleeping tablets, but said that they were in her toilet bag.

"She took them and then handed me the tablet slip, and I then put them into her toilet bag. She must have had them in her hand already.

"I didn't see her taking them from her toilet bag. I don't know how many she took.''

Asked how many tablets were in the blister packet, he said: "14, I think it is,'' adding that he didn't ask her how many she had taken.

In response to a question as to how many tablets his wife would usually take, he said: "It varied. Sometimes two to four. Sometimes if she couldn't get to sleep, she might have taken four [tablets].

"She would then go to sleep between 30 minutes to an hour [after]. It depended on the day.''

He was further questioned about his wife's sleep pattern and whether she was a sound or heavy sleeper, and he replied: "I don't know. Sometimes she woke up. I took those tablets as well, but not that night. I would take one to two and it would help me sleep possibly.

"I didn't like the taste of them. It was like a metal taste, and I really didn't like taking them because of that.''

He said that if he did take them, he would sleep for "eight hours, maybe nine hours or ten hours'', adding that he is a "fairly heavy sleeper usually''.

McKinney explained that his wife was "sometimes a light sleeper and sometimes she wasn't".

He continued: "I would say that sometimes if she was out for the count, she was a heavy sleeper. Nothing would wake her. Sometimes she would wake up at the lightest sound.''

Asked if he had ever tried to waken up his wife after she had taken sleeping tablets, he replied: "I don't remember ever having to do that.''

McKinney was also questioned about two full five-litre drums of water on the boat, and he said they had brought them from their home in Convoy as "the drinking water at home is not drinkable ... it is not good water''.

Asked why he brought them to the boat, he said: "We didn't know if there was water on the boat, and if we could drink the water on the boat. I don't remember if they told us [that we could drink the water on the boat].''

Earlier in the hearing, the jury heard that during the course of his second police interview, McKinney said his wife and family were "extremely excited'' about going on their Easter boat trip, as it was their first holiday for a year.

Asked about the family mood as they set off on their first boating trip together, he said: "We were laughing and enjoyed being together. Happy. A wonderful time.''

He added that the family played board games such as Cluedo, and the family were "very happy''.

McKinney told police that on that night he had lost his way steering the boat, and ended up at the wrong pier on Devenish Island. He decided to moor there as it was closer to the direction the family were heading the following day.

He said that he went out on deck to smoke hand-rolled cigarettes on a number of occasions, and "each time I went out for a smoke, I checked the ropes".

He continued: "When I got off the boat and onto the pier, I would pull on the ropes to see that they were secure. I don't know how many times I went out for a smoke''.

Asked why he went outside for a cigarette, he replied: "I just don't smoke in front of the kids.''

He confirmed to police that it was a "little windy outside, and the boat was calm'' but he denied there was any concerns among his family that the boat was "rocky''.

At the end of his interview, a detective asked McKinney if there was anything he wished to add to or clarify about what he had told them.

McKinney replied: "Can I ask why ... I mean, Lu Na and I were an extremely happy couple. We did everything together. Why am I sitting here? Why are the police arresting me for murder today?''

A detective replied that the police were trying to establish the facts surrounding his wife's death.

The trial continues.