Roscommon man who stabbed his mother found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity
A Roscommon man has today been found not guilty of murdering his mother by reason of insanity.
Paul Henry of Ardsallagh, Athlone Road, was convinced she wanted to have him killed when he attacked her at her home in September 2011.
Ann Henry’s husband told Gardaí she was never willing to accept that Paul was unwell and was prepared to forgive him no matter what he did.
Their differing views about how to manage his behaviour led to their separation a few years before the 29-year-old attacked her with a kitchen knife while she was cleaning her house in Roscommon town.
She managed to stumble outside where he continued to attack her.
The court heard he kicked her and beat her with a brush handle as she lay dying on the ground.
Mr Henry suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and had become convinced that his mother and others were trying to harm him.
A consultant psychiatrist from the Central Mental Hospital found he did not have the capacity to form the necessary criminal intent for murder and was unable to stop himself from murdering his mother.
The jury agreed after deliberating for just over an hour and a half.
A hearing on how to treat Mr Henry is due to take place tomorrow morning.
