Man admits killing mother by inflicting blows to her head with a hatchet while she lay in bed, court hears

A 29-year-old autistic man admits killing his mother “without any lawful justification” by inflicting five fatal blows to her head with a hatchet whilst she lay in her bed, a murder trial jury has heard.

During the opening of the trial of Patrick Dunne at the Central Criminal Court on Friday, a prosecuting barrister said that expert psychiatrists for both the prosecution and defence are in agreement that the accused was insane “as defined by law” at the time of his mother’s death.

Patrick Gageby SC, defending Mr Dunne, made a number of admissions of fact to the court today on behalf of his client. These included that the accused killed his mother Susan Dunne and had done so “without any lawful justification”.

Mr Dunne from Ballingeragh, Lixnaw, Co Kerry, has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court, having pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother Susan Dunne (62), between November 26th and 27th 2013, both dates inclusive, at the same address.

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Opening the case for the prosecution, Dominic McGinn SC said that this was “quite an unusual trial” as a lot of it will involve statements being read to the jury.

Outlining the facts of the case, Mr McGinn said Ms Dunne’s body was found in her bedroom between 11am and 11.30am on the morning of November 27th. Ms Dunne had sustained at least five blows to her head, he said.

Counsel told the jury that Ms Dunne’s son, Patrick, was 19 years old at the time and had been diagnosed with autism at a relatively young age. The accused required additional care “on top of the usual parenting requirements”, he added.

The prosecution barrister told the court that the Lixnaw and Listowel communities were used to the sight of Ms Dunne driving around in her car with her son Patrick in the back seat.

Mr McGinn said one of the regular things that Ms Dunne did was to collect her son’s disability allowance from the post office. “She looked after his social welfare card, Patrick would withdraw the money and then Susan would give him €5 for himself,” he explained.

What raised concern on November 27th, the lawyer said, was that Patrick arrived alone at the post office, withdrew the money himself and was seen to be driving around unaccompanied in his mother’s car. “Because of that various neighbours were alerted and they went around to the Dunne house,” he said.

There will be evidence, Mr McGinn said, that neighbours found the front door of the Dunne house unlocked but one of the internal doors was locked.

He said one of the neighbours had opened a window and looked inside. The neighbour made a decision to force open the bedroom door, where he found Ms Dunne’s body. The neighbour called the emergency services. The ambulance crew found Ms Dunne without a pulse and cold to touch. Ms Dunne was formally pronounced dead at 11.51am that morning.

Outlining the circumstances of the deceased’s death, Mr McGinn said that State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster conducted a full post mortem and confirmed that Ms Dunne had sustained six wounds to her head, five of them were a significant size and situated behind her right ear.

Dr Bolster found multiple fractures and fatal trauma to the deceased’s brain underneath the wounds. “She certified that brain trauma was the cause of death and that the wounds were consistent when Ms Dunne was lying in bed in the position that she was found,” he continued.

Mr McGinn said the evidence will be that a hatchet used for chopping wood was found in the kitchen. Dr Bolster found the wounds to Ms Dunne were consistent with having been inflicted by the hatchet.

Counsel also indicated to the jury that gardai found the hatchet next to the fridge in the kitchen, that the blade was clean but there was some blood-staining on the rear of it, which matched the accused’s DNA profile.

A DNA profiling was also conducted on the handle of the hatchet and the major profile matched the accused’s DNA, he said.

The court heard further evidence will be that gardai interviewed witnesses over the next few days, who had encountered Patrick that morning, to ascertain a pattern of what took place.

Mr McGinn said a man had encountered Patrick at 9.30am that day when the accused arrived at his home and began asking for his sister. The man’s sister had worked at the accused’s former school and Patrick had developed “an attachment” to her, he said.

The barrister said Patrick was also seen driving alone in his mother’s car that morning by a local woman.

The accused had been in the post office at 10.30am that morning where he withdrew his disability allowance, said Mr McGinn. Staff realised there was something unusual and contacted the family’s neighbours, he added.

There will also be evidence, counsel said, that the accused spoke to a man who worked in a shop in the town centre and had let Patrick borrow his mobile phone. The accused then contacted a woman he had met through his former school to attempt to arrange a meeting with her in Listowel that morning. “She said she wasn’t available until later that day but Patrick went to the Listowel Arms Hotel that morning and said he was there to meet a friend,” he explained.

The accused, counsel said, was later seen on the street at 11am and told another man that he was in town with his mother who was shopping.

At 11.30am, the lawyer said, Patrick went to Listowel Community College, where he was attending once a week, had a cup of tea and spoke to members of staff.

By this stage, counsel said that Ms Dunne’s body had been found and gardai were alerted.

Evidence will also be heard that Garda Declan McDonagh noticed Ms Dunne’s car parked on Market Street in Listowel and went over to it. The garda said he told Patrick that his mother had been found dead when he saw the accused approach the car. The garda also suggested to Patrick that he accompany him to Listowel Garda Station as he was probably the last person to have seen her.

Gda McDonagh arrested Patrick after being notified that the accused had been identified as a formal suspect in the case.

The court will also hear evidence, the lawyer said, that the accused’s key worker told gardai that Patrick suffered from autism and some other issues. He was examined by a local GP and a consultant psychiatrist, who both said the accused was fit to be questioned.

Patrick sat through a series of interviews and the jury will hear the details of the account the accused gave in due course, he said. “He did accept that he had struck his mother with a hatchet, that he had left the hatchet in the kitchen and he explained the reasoning behind that,” said Mr McGinn.

The court will also hear, the barrister indicated, what had happened to make Patrick strike his mother and the various events unfolding before and after the assault.

The accused was released from garda detention and then formally charged with the offence of murder in November 2013.

The barrister said there had been a delay since 2013 as the accused was assessed by a psychiatrist and it was determined that he was not fit to stand trial. Counsel added: “He didn’t have sufficient capacity to understand what was going on and was remanded for treatment to a psychiatric facility. That has been the position in the interim since 2013 and in more recent times he has been deemed fit to stand trial.”

Ms Dunne had sustained six blows to her head with the hatchet and five of them were fatal, said Mr McGinn, adding that the natural and probable consequences of inflicting this is that at the very least a person would suffer serious harm or would probably die.

The lawyer told the jurors that this was an “unusual case” as a special defence was available which allowed them to return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity based on an assessment by the professional psychiatrists in the case.

In summary, Mr McGinn told the jury that they will hear evidence from two psychiatrists, who both agree that the accused was insane as defined by law at the time of his mother’s death. He said it was for the jurors to determine whether “the psychiatrists determination” can be accepted and that the important evidence in the case would come from the psychiatrists.

Mr Gageby told the court it was accepted that matters had been properly investigated by the authorities and said the “sole issue” in the case was whether the accused was not guilty by reason of insanity.

The trial before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring and a jury of five men and seven women is expected to last three days.