A jury has heard that a 32-year-old man who killed his father by stabbing him with a World War II bayonet was suffering from a relapse of schizophrenia and should not be found guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
READ MORE: American tourist 'kicked in head' in random Talbot Street attack 'still fighting for his life' Det Gda Larkin said that when the gardaí asked what had happened, the defendant said: “I was upset. I attacked him.” The detective said that the defendant told gardaí that he stabbed his father with a “WWII bayonet-type of thing”.
The detective went on to confirm that Dr Heidi Okkers performed the postmortem on Harry Sheeran, finding stab wounds on the chest, two wounds on his back, two on his left arm, and one to the right leg. Dr Okkers’ said that Harry Sheeran experienced multiple sharp force injuries, and one stab wound caused injuries to his heart. The pathologist said that there was significant blood loss from the leg wound, and death occurred through stab wounds to the chest and leg.
Dr McLaughlin said it was very difficult to follow the narrative being put forward by Mr Sheeran, but it appeared that on this occasion Mr Sheeran believed he received information about his father, with someone saying to him: “Kill your father, we’ll help you.” Dr McLaughlin said that the defendant was quite incoherent in this account, but he was not being “wilfully incoherent”.