A Galway man who killed his mother nearly four years ago has been found guilty but insane at the Central Criminal Court.
Seán Fahy (43), Headford Road, Galway, yesterday pleaded guilty but insane to the murder of his elderly mother, Ms Margaret Fahy, at her home in Ballindooley, on September 11th, 2001.
The jury took just 10 minutes to reach their unanimous verdict. Mr Justice Paul Carney thanked them before he directed that the father-of-five be detained at the Central Mental Hospital.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr Brendan Nix, told the court on behalf of the Fahy family that they "appreciated the course Seán took".
Insp Tony O'Donnell told the court that Fahy had been released from St Brigid's psychiatric hospital just five weeks before the murder.
Mr Nix said Fahy's wife had been contacted by a doctor the day before his release warning her to stay away from him.
"She was told by a doctor that she should put some distance between herself and himself as it wasn't uncommon for people like Seán to kill their wives," Mr Nix said.
On the evening of September 10th, 2001, Insp O'Donnell told the court the last people to see Ms Margaret Fahy alive were her niece, Yvonne and Mr Michael Fahy, who had been left the farm when his father died in 1996.
The next morning at 10.15 a.m. Mr Michael Fahy arrived at his mother's house where he found her lying on the ground with his brother asleep on the couch. "There was blood on the walls, floor and ceiling," Insp O'Donnell said.
The ambulance crew, Insp O'Donnell said, noticed two bottles of tablets on the ground beside Fahy.
"It was the belief of gardaí at the time that Seán Fahy had attempted to take an overdose, there was fear for the life of Seán Fahy at that time," he said.
He added that the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, visited the scene and "observed the violence that was very evident in the house". The elderly woman, the court heard, had "extensive head injuries".
"A penetrating wound contained a walking stick that was found protruding from her neck," Insp O'Donnell said. "Her back was broken in the lumbar area and there was an injury to her scalp consistent with a broken walking stick being driven into the scalp at least six times," he said.
The tip of the elderly woman's finger had been severed, the inspector told the jury, which was "consistent with a stamping of a foot onto a hand". The 78-year-old grandmother had a number of defensive wounds with Dr Cassidy concluding that death occurred "due to blood loss" combined with breathing difficulties caused from crush injuries to her chest.
Insp O'Donnell said this case was "the worst case" he had "ever" witnessed in his 27 years as a garda. "There was much blood on the floor, the walls and the radiators, a terrible violence had to be inflicted to cause this," Insp O'Donnell told the jury.
The court heard that the 43-year-old had been barred from the family home after his wife obtained a barring order . On the night before the fatal incident, Insp O'Donnell said Fahy had been drinking heavily in Oranmore and Clarinbridge, Galway.
"Seán Fahy was on prescribed medication for a number of years but he consistently did not take this medication. When he drank he suffered sudden outbursts of violence," Insp O'Donnell said.
Insp O'Donnell also said under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Martin Giblin SC, that the accused told gardaí: "I'm sorry for the trouble I have caused, I loved that woman."
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Brian McCaffrey told the court that all Fahy's medical notes before 1993 are lost and that he could only go on the word of Fahy.
"Seán Fahy said at the age of 17, he began to withdraw mixing from people and spent several months inside without going out," Dr McCaffrey said.
The psychiatrist said Fahy had thoughts that "people were going to kill him and he thought the IRA were after him". At the age of 23, Fahy married his wife, Maura, and they have five children ranging from 10 to 20, Dr McCaffrey said.
After 10 years of marriage the psychiatrist said, Fahy had delusions that his wife was having an affair and "no one could convince him to the contrary". Dr McCaffrey said the problem with Fahy was that he "never considered himself to be mentally-ill and had a reluctance in taking his medication".
Fahy, the psychiatrist said, "never trusted any of the psychiatrists who treated him as he thought they were out to poison him".
On July 23rd, 2001, Dr McCaffrey said Fahy was committed to St Brigid's psychiatric hospital in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, and was discharged on August 9th, 2001, five weeks before his mother's death. Fahy returned to his mother's home after he was discharged.
Dr McCaffrey said Fahy suffered from "extensive paranoid" ideas, including the belief that his mother was trying to poison him.
Dr McCaffrey said Fahy described the event of his mother's death to him. Fahy, the psychiatrist said, told him when he arrived back home from a night's drinking at 1.30 a.m. on September 11th, 2001, he confronted his elderly mother about the poisoning.After assaulting his mother, Dr McCaffrey said, "he sat down calmly. There was complete switch off of emotions, then he went off to sleep and he slept right through to the next morning".
When he saw his mother the next morning lying in blood, he "then felt that he should kill himself", the physiatrist said.
