Jury retires to consider Bellante murder verdict
The jury in the murder trial of Saverio Bellante has retired to consider their verdict.
The 36-year-old denies murder but admits killing Tom O’Gorman at the house they shared in Castleknock in Dublin in January last year.
The judge told the jurors that the evidence only points one way, and that two psychiatrists found Mr Bellante met the criteria of not guilty by reason of insanity.
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Saverio Bellante has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Tom O’Gorman at 18 Beech Park Avenue in Castleknock some time between January 11 and 12 last year, but admits killing his landlord.
Yesterday the court heard admissions from Mr Bellante that he stabbed Mr O’Gorman and hit him with a dumbbell following a tense game of chess.
The 36-year-old Italian also admitted removing an organ from his landlord’s chest and eating a part of it.
In closing today, Sean Guerin said his client suffered from a well documented and diagnosed mental illness.
Mr Guerin said the fact that Tom O’Gorman, a "good and decent man met his end this way" was irrational, and what happened to his remains could only be seen through the lens of insanity.
Unusually, the prosecution did not give a closing statement.
Two consultant psychiatrists gave evidence yesterday that Mr Bellante was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killing, and that he fulfilled the criteria of not guilty by reason of insanity.
In her direction to the jury, Judge Margaret Heneghan told them that if they found Mr Bellante guilty, they would be ignoring the testimony of two psychiatrists.
She told the jury that all the evidence pointed one way – that Mr Bellante did not have the necessary guilty mind to commit the crime of murder.
