Jury to decide if attempted-murder accused was not guilty by reason of insanity

A jury will decide if a man who denies attempting to murder his partner by stuffing underwear in her mouth and beating her with a hammer should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jury to decide if attempted-murder accused was not guilty by reason of insanity

By Eoin Reynolds

A jury will decide if a man who denies attempting to murder his partner by stuffing underwear in her mouth and beating her with a hammer should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Prosecution barrister Paul Burns SC in his closing speech told the six men and six women that the accused man was high on cannabis and does not qualify for the special verdict. The accused man's barrister Ronan Munro SC said his client was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and was unable to refrain from his actions.

Tomas Gajowniczek (37) of The Ice Rink Apartments, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin 8 has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the attempted murder of Alicja Kalinowska (30) at their home on June 16, 2016. He also pleaded notguilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Ms Kalinowska on the same date at the same location.

Mr Burns told the jury that the accused revealed his intention when he told Ms Kalinowska, during the alleged assault: "It would be better to go to jail for life than a bitch like you stay alive."

Mr Burns also referred to the evidence of Ms Kalinowska who said the accused pinned her down, punched her repeatedly, shoved underwear in her mouth and pinched her nose to stop her breathing, and beat her with a hammer. He then took a bottle and poured the contents into her mouth to make her choke. He added: "You can infer that his intention was to kill her. The natural and probable consequences of cutting off someone's air supply is that they will die."

Addressing the issue of insanity Mr Burns reminded the jury of the evidence of Professor Damian Mohan of the Central Mental Hospital who said the accused man was regularly using cannabis at the time, was "acutely intoxicated" and suffering from a drug-induced psychosis. Under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 intoxication is not a mental disorder, he said.

Dr Mohan's opinion was in part based on the fact that the accused stopped being delusional about one year after being placed on a drug-free unit of Cloverhill Prison where he did not have access to cannabis. A psychiatrist called by the defence, Dr Conor O'Neill, said he believes the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and that he did not believe it would have taken him a year to stop showing symptoms if his psychosis were drug-induced.

As well as being intoxicated, Mr Burns said the accused was angry at Ms Kalinowska because she had cheated on him. This was not a delusion but the truth, counsel said, adding: "In his anger and fury he lashed out". He said the cannabis had made him lose control over his anger and led to the "brutal attack" on Alicja in which "he clearly tried to take her life".

Mr Munro said the issue in the trial is whether his client should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. He described the injuries to Ms Kalinowska, captured in photographs shown to the jury, as "very distressing" and said it is clear that the offence of assault causing harm took place.

He accused the prosecution of taking a narrow and superficial view by focusing on Ms Kalinowska's infidelity. By looking at all of the evidence, he said the jury will see that the accused was "acting crazy", that he believed Ms Kalinowska was drugging him and their baby and he was worried about a fraud relating to his taxes.

He said his client had a range of issues on his mind and that he clearly had a disease of the mind.

Counsel added that there is no basis for Professor Mohan's claim that his client was "acutely intoxicated" at the time. He pointed to the fact that when arrested gardai noted there was no evidence he had been drinking or was under the influence of drugs and a doctor who assessed him said he needed sleep but said nothing about drugs. Ms Kalinowska also did not say that he was intoxicated. Mr Munro told the jury there is evidence only of intermittent cannabis use and nobody who saw him that night said he was intoxicated.

Ms Kalinowska gave the background to the offence, counsel said, saying they had a happy family but things went downhill after Mr Gajowniczek was tied up and locked in a toilet by thieves at the Maxol garage where he worked. He never returned to work. His grandfather died around Christmas 2015 and he was upset that he didn't have enough money to go to Poland. "Bizarre things" started happening after that as Mr Gajowniczek became suspicious about everything, leading to an episode on June 12 when he locked Alicja out of their apartment, only allowing her in when gardai arrived. The garda who spoke to him was so concerned at what Mr Gajowniczek told him that he arrested him under the Mental Health Act. He was later released after being assessed by a doctor. The alleged assault took place four days later.

Mr Munro said it would be superficial to say that he "just got angry one night and beat her up" but that there was evidence of psychosis and a disease of the mind. He urged the jury to find his client not guilty by reason of insanity.

Justice Patrick McCarthy will complete his charge to the jury of six men and six women tomorrow.

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