A man visited his grandmother in hospital and told her he had killed his father, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.
Ross O’Rourke (31) has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his father, Stefan Nivelles Posschier (65), at The Stables in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, between October 24th and 25th, 2022.
At the opening of his trial on Thursday, the prosecuting barrister said psychiatrists on both sides agree on the mental state of the accused at the time of the killing.
Michael Bowman SC, defending, acknowledged Mr O’Rourke, with a previous address in Tullow, Carlow, caused the death of Mr Posschier.
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Opening the prosecution’s case on Thursday, Shane Costelloe SC said there is likely to be no controversy over Mr O’Rourke’s actions leading to the death and how Mr Posschier came to die.
Counsel said Mr Posschier lived a modest existence and assisted in the care of his elderly mother Ann Kingston.
Mr Costelloe said Mr O’Rourke was travelling outside the country from 2017 onwards and had been living in Germany and the Netherlands. He lived a “nomadic style of life”, doing some work and beginning to exhibit signs he was not mentally well, counsel said.
There will be evidence showing the accused was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric unit in Amsterdam, where he was involuntarily detained for 10 weeks and diagnosed as having a mental illness by the Dutch authorities, Mr Costelloe said. The jury heard Mr O’Rourke was released from the psychiatric unit on the understanding he would return to Ireland.
Counsel said Mr O’Rourke went to live with his grandmother (Ms Kingston) and was in regular contact with his father, who helped Ms Kingston on a day-to-day basis.
Ms Kingston was admitted to hospital in Carlow, the barrister said. He added that the jurors will hear evidence that she was in bed on the hospital ward on October 25th, 2022, when Mr O’Rourke told her he killed Mr Posschier.
Mr Costelloe said Ms Kingston phoned her daughter (Mr Posschier’s sister) when she heard this. Gardaí then went to Mr Posschier’s home.
Evidence will outline how gardaí did not see anything untoward when they went to The Stables in Kinnegad and left. However, Mr Costelloe said, gardaí returned after more information emerged a few hours later and found plastic tarpaulin held down with bricks. The body of the deceased was underneath this.
The court heard further evidence will detail how a search of the property led to the discovery of a blood-stained knife in a ceramic jar on a kitchen shelf.
The barrister said a postmortem found Mr Posschier suffered stab wounds, some of which traversed arteries in his body.
He said jurors will hear from expert consultant psychiatrists for the prosecution and defence, who will tell them “what was going on in the mind of the accused at the time”.
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The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.
