Court finds man guilty of father's murder
A Dublin man has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his father at the Central Criminal Court today.
A jury of seven women and four men took less than two hours to reach the verdict in the murder trial of Mr Gary Waters (aged 31), who denied the murder of his father Mr John Waters (aged 59) at his flat in Oliver Bond House, Dublin on 29 December 2001.
Mr Waters broke down and wept when the verdict was read out this afternoon. His sisters and extended family cried “Yes, Yes” from the public gallery, sobbing and clutching at each other for support. Mr Water’s mother died nine years ago and a brother was stabbed to death seven years ago.
Speaking outside the court afterwards, one of Mr Water’s sisters said she was “thrilled” with the verdict. “I’m thrilled, we’re all thrilled, he should never have been there in the first place” she said.
The jury heard over three days how Mr John Waters had admitted sexually abusing his daughters to the accused on the night of his death and had provoked his son into attacking him over the allegations.
He was talking in a “flippant manner” to his son about sexually abusing his daughters when they were children, Garda Tobin told the court. “He told Gary he just fondled them, never penetrated them, that his brothers did it too” Garda Tobin said. “Gary Waters said the way his father was talking made him ‘lose the head’”.
“I just wanted to shut him up, there was a scuffle. I think I stabbed him again when he was lying down. I honestly don’t know how many times. I didn’t plan it, I feel terrible now”, Mr Gary Waters said in a statement to Gardaí.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Ciaran O’Loughlin SC said a defence of provocation did not allow for a “cooling down” period. “He seems to have attacked Mr Waters in the chair first. Then blood splashes were found on the skirting boards, indicating he was lying on the floor” Mr O’Loughlin contended.
“He seems to have followed Mr Waters down to the ground. The nineteen stab wounds were inflicted on one of the most vulnerable part of the body, why didn’t he use his hands? In all probability the intention was to cause death” he concluded.
Cause of death was found to be from “multiple stab wounds to the neck” in which Mr John Waters sustained 19 different wounds in three clusters around his neck according to the post mortem examination report of Dr Marie Cassidy, state pathologist.
Several Gardaí testified in the trial that Mr Gary Waters had called 999 immediately after the assault and “was in a very distressed state” when they arrived. Mr Waters “sobbed uncontrollably and had to be comforted” by Garda Liam Tobin and Garda Brian Quinn before they arrested him, the court heard.
A tape of the emergency call was played in court yesterday in which Mr Waters was heard sobbing and crying “I’m after stabbing me Da” to a Garda.
Mr Waters kept his head in his hands and wept throughout the trial.
Earlier in the trial the court heard evidence from two of Mr Waters sisters who confirmed that what he said about the conversation with his father was in fact true. Questioned by Mr Grehan, defending, both of his sisters confirmed they were sexually abused by their father as children. They had never told their brother Gary about the abuse and were not on friendly terms with their father before his death, the jury heard.
In his closing statement today, defence counsel Mr Brendan Grehan SC told the jury how Mr Waters parents separated when he was just two years old and his older sister was “more like a mother figure” to him since then.
“Consider the effect on Gary Waters, of his father referring to his sisters in a flippant manner” Mr Grehan told the jury. “It would appear Gary Waters got on reasonably well with his father, he said himself, ‘this isn’t something I wanted to happen’” he said.
He put before the jury a defence of provocation, saying the nineteen stab wounds inflicted on Mr John Waters was “indeed a frenzied attack” and due to the fact that his son “lost control of his mind”.
“He was never able to give a coherent account of the 19 stab wounds to Gardaí, he said he ‘blanked out after the first stab’” Mr Grehan told the jury.
“Gary has no history of violence and this should in effect be a manslaughter case” he added. “The only appropriate verdict is not one of murder but of manslaughter” he concluded.
Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins remanded Mr Waters in custody until 13 January 2004 when he will set a date for sentencing after probation reports have been submitted. He thanked the jury and excused them from jury service for a period of seven years.
