Courts

Woman with history of mental illness killed her tirelessly supportive mother in ‘heartbreaking’ case

Moire Bergin (47) has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering Mary Bergin (76) in Dublin 1 in 2022

Gardaí outside the home of the late Mary Bergin off Seville Place in Dublin 1 after the discovery of her body. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins
Gardaí outside the home of the late Mary Bergin off Seville Place in Dublin 1 after the discovery of her body. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins
Alison O'Riordan
Tue Jul 02 2024 - 18:48

A woman stands accused of murdering her 76-year-old mother, “the one person to whom she felt closest with and who supported her tirelessly through her life”, in what the defendant’s lawyers have told a trial jury is a “heartbreaking” case.

Psychiatrists called by the defence and prosecution on Tuesday gave evidence in the Central Criminal Court that Moire Bergin (47), who was detained 16 times in 17 years under the Mental Health Act, most of them involuntarily, prior to the killing, fulfils the criteria for a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Both witnesses were in agreement that Ms Bergin was suffering from bipolar affective disorder with symptoms of mania, depression and psychosis when she fatally stabbed her mother who she believed was the devil.

Moire Bergin, with an address at Seville Place, Dublin 1, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of Mary Bergin in her home at First Avenue, Seville Place, on April 13th, 2022.

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The psychiatrists agreed that the accused met the criteria for the special verdict as she did not know the nature and quality of the act, was unable to appreciate that what she did at the time was morally wrong and would have been unable to refrain from her actions. Symptoms of Ms Bergin’s mental illness included religious delusions and exposing herself, which one psychiatrist said was a clear indicator that she was not well.

The accused’s mental health deteriorated significantly in the year leading up to the killing with more frequent admissions to hospital. She had six psychiatric admissions to hospital between March 6th, 2021 and April 8th, 2022 and was last released from hospital five days before killing her mother.

In her closing speech, Ms Bergin’s counsel Fiona Murphy SC said it was a “heartbreaking case”, where her client is charged with the murder of her mother. She added that Ms Bergin’s mother was: “The one person to whom she felt closest with in the world and who supported her tirelessly through her life and difficulties”.

Ms Murphy told the jury her client accepts that she caused her mother’s death. She stressed that if they rejected the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity then that would be against all the evidence heard in the case.

Earlier, the trial heard that a bloodstained Ms Bergin was found naked on a Dublin street after fatally stabbing her mother and told a garda at the scene: “I killed my mother, I killed her, she is inside covered in blood.”

In her interviews with gardaí at Store Street Garda station, Ms Bergin said there were times she saw the devil in her mother’s eyes. “The devil gets into you and makes you worse. The devil is so sly he is so hard to get out,” she said.

The accused also said her mother was fighting back against her when she cut her neck and throat with a knife.

In his closing speech, James Dwyer SC, for the prosecution, said there was clear evidence from the psychiatrists that Ms Bergin was suffering with a mental disorder at the time of the offence. He said the prosecution submitted that the appropriate and true verdict was not guilty by reason of insanity.

In his charge to the jury, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the murder trial involved a very tragic death in violent circumstances. He called the facts of the case stark and deeply tragic.

The judge said under normal circumstances the case would engender emotion and horror but that had to be left outside the door when the jury retired to consider their verdict. He said the accused was labouring under the delusion that her mother had been replaced with the devil.

“It’s not as if people are shooting in the dark, there is a detailed mental history provided going back over many many years and stark evidence regarding the condition in which the accused was found,” he said.

The jury of six men and six women briefly commenced their deliberations on Tuesday and will return to court on Wednesday to resume them.