A man who stabbed his mother and step-father during a cocaine induced psychotic episode has been jailed for four years at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Michael White said that Conor Dreelan (25) was entitled to a lesser sentence due to his temporary psychotic condition, which had been described in psychiatric reports submitted to the court. He said Dreelan was "in shock" when he realised the harm he had caused and that he shows no evidence of psychosis when not using drugs. The court previously heard that Dreelan had taken 2 grams of cocaine the day before the assault on his parents.
Attempted murder charges dropped
Dreelan (25), also known as Conor Dignam, of Snowdrop Walk, Darndale, had been charged with the attempted murder of his mother, Phyllis Dreelan and his stepfather, David Dignam, at Snowdrop Walk on June 13th, 2020. The attempted murder charges were dropped and earlier this year Dreelan pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to his parents.
Medical reports read out to the court stated that Phyllis Dreelan had knife wounds to her neck, chest, and upper arm. She was in hospital for two weeks. David Dignam, who was unconscious on arrival at hospital, had multiple deep stab wounds to his body. He was admitted to intensive care and released from hospital on July 1st 2020.
Mr Justice White said Dreelan's condition was consistent with "cocaine induced psychosis". He sentenced him to six years on each count of causing serious harm but suspended the final two years on condition that he be of good behaviour and remain under the supervision of the probation services for those two years. Both sentences are to run concurrently.
In their victim impact reports, both parents said they knew that it wasn’t really their son who had carried out the attack. They said they missed their son, whom the Central Criminal Court heard has since received a diagnosis of an acute psychotic episode secondary to drug consumption, and are waiting for him to come home.
