The woman on trial for killing a peacock with a baseball bat said yesterday that before the incident she had not had a good night’s sleep for months because of constant squawking from peacocks outside her condominium.

Sandra Maloney, 70, is charged with second-degree cruelty to animals for killing a peacock outside her Makaha Valley Towers home on May 17, 2009. The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Maloney said in court yesterday that in 2009 the birds were the noisiest they had been since she and her husband moved to Makaha Valley five years earlier.

She said the lack of sleep made her withdrawn and cranky.

"I got to the point where I didn’t want to go anywhere. I just wanted to stay in a hole," Maloney said.

On the morning she admits killing the peacock, she said , she went outside to chase a particular bird that had been squawking in the parking lot. She said she never intended to kill any birds but found that chasing them with a baseball bat made her tired and was helpful in venting her frustration.

Maloney said she was able to shoo some away, but one did not flee with the others. Instead it turned around and defecated in the barbecue, she said.

"I just lost it. I never knew I could move so fast," she said .

Maloney said she grabbed the bird by the back, surprising herself and the bird. While still holding the peacock, she swung her bat at it, missing on the first swing but connecting with its head on the second.

Believing the bird was dead, she said , she carried it to the bushes nearby, even sweeping its tail out of the way so children wouldn’t see it or trip over it.

She said she intended to get something to conceal the bird in order to carry it to her condominium, where she planned to cook it.

But before she could go anywhere, a security guard stopped her and called police.

The trial continues today.