A man who believed he was Jesus Christ panicked on Good Friday 1993 and fled to Dundalk, armed with a hammer, fearing demons were after him. He only decided it was safe to return to Dublin after 3 p.m., a court heard yesterday.
A few months later the 53-yearold man decided he was not worthy to be Jesus but was a John the Baptist figure on a mission from God to prepare the world for the second coming.
He bought a house at an auction in Dublin for £125,000, saying it was a temple for the chosen few who would be saved after Armageddon.
"He told me he was going to get the money for the house from heaven or the Lotto," his wife told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. "It was to be a temple or a paradise for a few chosen people, mostly women. I don't think there was any place for men in that house," she said.
The man also told his youngest son that "Our Lady" was moving into the family home and his mother (witness) was leaving.
The woman was giving evidence during a special hearing convened before Judge Joseph Mathews and the jury to see if her husband is fit to stand trial on charges of assaulting her with intent to rape and assaulting another family member in Dublin last October.
The 53-year-old man is representing himself, having sacked his legal team before the hearing began.
"He believes solicitors and barristers are not at one with God and are not to be trusted," Dr Stephen Curran, from the Central Mental Hospital, told the jury.
Dr Curran said the man suffered from schizophrenia, a disease of the mind, and was not capable to follow the court proceedings, instruct counsel, or challenge jurors in a meaningful way. He was unconcerned about the court case as "he has bigger fish to fry", the doctor added.
The court heard that the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, believes what is happening to him is God's plan and he has been in the Central Mental Hospital since he was charged with the assault offences.
A garda told prosecution counsel Mr Paul McDermott that in the District Court the man had refused to answer the judge's questions and looked up to the ceiling.
When he was initially called to the accused man's home following the alleged assault, the man asked him: "Do you know the Fourth Commandment?"
The man's wife said they were married for almost 30 years and her husband had been good to her and their family.
He started to get unhappy and paranoid, believing everyone was robbing him. He then started to act in an unbusinesslike way, agreeing a price for a house, only to try to bargain the seller down by £25,000 a short time later.
"At Easter time he started to act weird. He came home and told me he was Jesus Christ. That was really the first shock."
The hearing continues today.