One of three young men accused of murder cut his wrists and was "demented" days before the killing but was refused admittance to a psychiatric unit because no beds were available.
Mrs Therese Willoughby told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that her son, Mr Brian Willoughby, was in a demented and psychotic state in the week before the killing of Mr Brian Mulvaney on March 11th, 2000.
The court heard evidence that Mr Willoughby suffered from a severe degree of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for most of his life. The court also heard that the accused believed he was "wired the wrong way" and that he had attacked two men because of his extreme homophobia.
Mrs Willoughby broke down as she described how, on the Monday before the killing, she found the accused lying on the landing "covered in blood. He'd cut both wrists".
She told Mr Michael McMahon SC, defending, that on arrival at Tallaght Hospital, the accused was so aggressive it took two security guards to restrain him. "He was not admitted as they explained they had no beds."
Doctors quadrupled the medication previously prescribed and advised him to return to an outpatient psychiatric clinic that Thursday.
Mrs Willoughby said because he was "so drugged" she reduced his medication. She told the court that he was seen by a consultant registrar on Thursday and explained to him the accused was behaving "in a very demented, aggressive, mad way". "He gave Brian five minutes and left the premises," she said. "Brian was worse than ever when I took him home in the car."
Mrs Willoughby said the following day, Friday, he "left the house in a very demented, aggressive state" and told her "his effing head was mad".
She told the jury that her son was an extreme homophobic who had stabbed a man on Dublin's Baggot Street in January 1998 and assaulted another outside the George public house three weeks later.
"He was totally homophobic. He had a strong hatred for them and he felt that anybody that looked at him was a homosexual and was going to attack him." He was "totally delusional and paranoid about his family".