Trainee chef found guilty but insane of pub stab death
A 35-year-old man has been found guilty but insane at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of another man in a Dublin bar last year whom he believed raped him.
Mr Justice Paul Carney directed that Aidan Heneghan of Brosna Lawns, Mullingar, Westmeath be detained at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum "until the pleasure of the Government be known".
Mr Heneghan denied the murder of 43-year-old Frank McCann, originally from Baillieborough, Co Cavan on March 2, 2004 in the Front Lounge bar on Parliament Street, Dublin.
The jury of six men and six women returned a guilty but insane verdict after deliberating for 32 minutes.
When the verdict was delivered in court, the mother and father of Aidan Heneghan who were sitting behind him broke down crying with his father holding his head in his hands. Aidan Heneghan turned around to his parents and held their hands.
The deceased man’s mother, Mrs McCann cried: "He took my precious son," as she left the court surrounded by members of her family.
The court heard that Heneghan suffered from paranoid delusions, a form of schizophrenia and was suffering from this at the time of the murder, consultant forensic psychologist, Dr Henry Kennedy said.
Heneghan believed that the deceased man had drugged and raped him, that images of him were posted on the internet, that members of the gay community knew this and made mocking remarks about him, the psychologist said.
Prosecuting barrister, Mr Edward Comyn SC (with Noel Whelan BL) said the murder of Mr McCann occurred in the Front Lounge which is bar frequented by members of the gay community.
At 11.15pm on the night of the fatal attack, Heneghan came into the Front Lounge, the prosecutor said.
There was karaoke going on and there "was no reason to believe anything extraordinary was going to happen", Mr Comyn said.
Heneghan, the court heard, approached Mr McCann and "put his arm around his head, and with his knife, he cut Frank McCann’s throat from one side to another".
"As you can imagine," Mr Comyn told the jury, "considerable panic broke out." People were screaming and were horrified. A security man and a patron got Heneghan into a headlock and restrained him until the gardaí arrived.
A former flat mate of Heneghan, Ms Aileen Phelan told the court that the accused man had confided in her two years previous about an alleged rape. He told Ms Phelan that after he left a pub on George’s Street, Mr McCann offered him a lift home.
Heneghan who was training to be a chef claimed Mr McCann raped him and that naked pictures of him were put on the internet. Ms Phelan said Heneghan was paranoid when people smiled at him on the street believing that they knew about pictures on the internet.
Prosecutor Mr Comyn read the evidence of the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy to the jury who said Mr McCann suffered a "cut throat injury" to his neck with a gaping wound of 15cm by 5cm.
His trachea was sliced and his jugular vein and carotid artery were severed, Dr Cassidy found. The deceased also had two stab wounds to his trunk.
Dr Cassidy concluded that the deceased man died as a result of a haemorrhage caused by the severing of the jugular vein and carotid artery.
The State Pathologist was shown a large kitchen knife recovered by gardaí at the murder scene and said she believed the name ‘Aidan Heneghan’ was engraved on the knife.
Detective Sgt John Doyle told the court that when Heneghan was interviewed by gardaí he claimed the deceased man had raped him.
Dr Henry Kennedy, consultant forensic psychologist attached to Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum told the court that the trainee chef came within the legal definition of insanity.
Dr Kennedy interviewed Heneghan who believed he was drugged and raped by Mr McCann and a video was put on the internet.
The psychologist said Heneghan believed he saw a picture of himself on a website with his face pressed into a sheet.
Dr Kennedy told the court that Heneghan threatened Mr McCann a few times when he saw him out in places where gay people meet, saying on one occasion: "I’m going to get you".
Dr Kennedy told the court that it was apparent from his statement to gardai that Heneghan believed he was being persecuted by Mr McCann and others and that people were mocking him.
This led him to stalk Mr McCann in the months prior to the killing, Dr Kennedy said. "If he found out that he was wrong (about McCann), it would kill him as it would mean he killed someone for nothing," Dr Kennedy said.
The psychologist said that on the night of the murder, Heneghan said he took the second biggest of his knives out from his set of chef’s knives.
He said he walked the five minutes from his flat in Smithfield to the Front Lounge on Parliament St with the knife up his sleeve. Heneghan told Dr Kennedy when he walked in the front door and immediately saw Mr McCann.
The trainee chef said he believed the man with Mr McCann nodded towards the deceased and they both smiled. Heneghan said he tipped Mr McCann on the shoulder and remembers seeing a line across the deceased’s neck.
Psychologist, Mr Paul O’Connell also attached to Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum told defence barrister, Mr Gageby that Heneghan suffered from delusional disorder and that "the belief he held about Mr McCann originated in an abnormal state".
"Heneghan remains convinced that he was the victim of a rape," Dr O’Connell told the court.
