Man who stabbed mother 15 times found not guilty due to insanity
A 30-year-old man who fatally stabbed his mother over 15 times at the family home was found not guilty by reason of insanity at the Central Criminal Court today.
The jury of eight men and four women reached its unanimous verdict having deliberated for nine minutes.
Seamus Marrinan (aged30), from Newport Road, Castlebar pleaded guilty to the charge of murdering Carmel Marrinan (aged 61), of the same address on July 8, 2009.
Opening the trial Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC, prosecuting, told the jury that the evening of July 7, 2009 at the Marrinan family home began very ordinarily and uneventfully.
The accused, his parents and two of his six siblings had dinner and watched TV before retiring to bed at various different times.
In the early hours of the morning of Tuesday July 8, Siobhan Marrinan, the daughter of the deceased, was awakened by a loud roar.
On leaving her bedroom she saw her mother lying on the ground and someone lying on top of her; it was only when she pulled the person off that she realised it was her brother, the accused.
Siobhan Marrinan, who was studying to be a nurse at the time, tried without success to resuscitate her mother.
The deceased was taken to Mayo General Hospital and was pronounced dead at 4.40am on the morning of July 7, 2009.
Ms Ring SC, said the deceased had been woken by a noise and went to investigate what it was.
On the stairs she met her son, the accused, who was armed with a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed her. He then ran out onto the road, screaming.
The jury heard that Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis carried out the post mortem and noted the deceased had been stabbed a total of 15 times, suffering 17 stab wounds.
Dr Curtis noted the three most serious stab wounds were to the left side of the chest cavity and the left lung, causing massive haemorrhaging.
Det Sgt James Carroll, of Castlebar garda station, told the court that when gardaí arrived at the scene, the accused was in a very agitated state and had to be restrained to prevent him harming himself or others.
He said Mr Marrinan Jnr was talking to himself and talking about the devil and his clothing and hands were splattered with blood.
At 3.38am the accused was formally arrested at the scene and taken to Castlebar garda station where he was interviewed.
Gardaí were concerned about his mental condition and he was taken to Mayo General Hospital to be assessed, but was later taken back to the garda station.
During interviews with gardaí the accused admitted to stabbing his mother saying he did because she was "the devil".
He said: "When she came into my room, it was in a devil-like manner. She screamed and her face contorted. Her personality changed."
When questioned by gardaí about a broken picture of the Sacred Heart found at the scene of the killing, the accused said he had hit his mother with it.
"I took the picture off the wall and hit her with it, because I wanted to smash Jesus Christ into my mother," he said.
He told gardaí he had decided to kill his mother earlier that night and he had taken the knife from a drawer in the kitchen.
The jury were told that after the accused was formally charged with the murder of his mother, he was transferred to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum where he has remained since, receiving treatment.
Dr Helen O’Neill, consultant forensic psychiatrist, interviewed Seamus Marrinan Jnr, at the Central Mental Hospital and told prosecuting counsel that the accused was suffering from schizophrenia.
She told the court Seamus Marrinan Jnr, had no prior psychiatric history although he was taken to his GP by his mother in 2002 because he had been feeling "a bit low".
It was thought his low mood may have been in connection with his use of cannabis, and he was prescribed anti-depressants and mild tranquillizers.
Dr O’Neill said the accused cited his brother's wedding in May 2009 as the first time he noticed any anxiety.
He had been best man and was disappointed with the speech he gave feeling he had "let the family down".
In the month before the killing, the accused told Dr O’Neill he felt "strange" - more alert and alive.
He said: "It was a good feeling, almost mystical. I thought I was connected to some kind of Celtic mysticism."
He believed he could control things with his voice, and he was playing football more skilfully.
Days prior to the killing, the accused’s parents had gone away for a weekend and he told Dr O’Neill he believed they were giving him space.
He said: "They knew I was becoming more alert and mystic and they were giving me space."
On the evening before the killing, Mr Marrinan Jnr said he went for a walk and a dark feeling came over him.
"I felt I had done something wrong, wrong choices, wrong decisions, the wrong path. I should have taken the dog on the walk and it would have turned into a woman in a Celtic way."
He said on the morning of the killing his mother came into his room and told him to go to sleep and she had ‘’the voice of the devil’’.
Dr O’Neill said Mr Marrinan told her he beloved the world was going to end and he decided to kill himself that was why he went downstairs to get the knife.
He heard footsteps upstairs and thought it was his mother and believed she was going to harm him.
He said: "I took the picture of the Sacred Heart down from above the boiler and met my mother on the stairs and I hit her with the picture and stabbed her with the knife."
Dr O’Neill told the jury the accused was suffering from delusions, such as believing his food was poisoned and members of his family had been replaced by the devil. He also suffered from auditory hallucinations, hearing voices that were not there.
A toxicology report carried out on the accused showed that at the time of the killing, no drugs were in his system.
Dr O’Neill told prosecuting counsel that while the accused may have understood the factual nature of what he was doing, he did not understand that what he was dong was wrong nor could he refrain from doing it.
Dr Henry Kennedy, consultant forensic psychiatrist, told Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending that he completely agreed with the diagnosis of Dr O’Neill.
He said: "It is a very sad account of the onset of schizophrenia in a young man. It may seem surprising that a mental illness can come out of the blue but from the point of view if a psychiatrist it is not surprising."
Dr Kennedy said that while the accused had responded to treatment and his illness had improved, he continued to have symptoms and required further treatment.
Mr Justice Paul Carney thanked the jury for their service in the distressing case and exempted them from jury service for life.
