A jury will be asked to decide whether a man accused of a "brutal" machete attack on his neighbour committed murder or should be found guilty of manslaughter due to a mental disorder.
Patrick McDonagh (52), of Whitechapel Road, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter for his neighbour, Peter McDonald (73), but denies his murder.
On Wednesday, Mr Justice Michael MacGrath told the jury of nine men and three women that if they are satisfied that the prosecution had proved all the elements of murder, they must then consider the defence of diminished responsibility due to a mental disorder.
He said diminished responsibility is a defence under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 and, if established, reduces a murder conviction to one of manslaughter.
The defence, he said, bears the burden of proving that it is probable that Mr McDonagh had a mental disorder and that it was such as to substantially reduce his responsibility for the act of killing.
The jury heard from two consultant psychiatrists who differed on Mr McDonagh's diagnosis.
Prof Patricia Casey, who was called by the defence, said Mr McDonagh was suffering acute symptoms of schizophrenia at the time of the attack, adding that his responsibility for the killing was therefore substantially diminished.
Dr Mary Davoren, who was called by the prosecution, said if there was any abnormality in Mr McDonagh's mental state at the time of the alleged offence, it would most likely be accounted for by cannabis use.
This is not trial by experts, it is trial by jury.
The evidence of those expert witnesses, the judge said, is to assist the jury in coming to their verdict.
"The question as to whether his responsibility is diminished is a question for you, and you alone. This is not trial by experts, it is trial by jury," he said.
The judge told them they must make their decision based on all the evidence, including that of witnesses who described Mr McDonagh's behaviour before and after the killing.
Mr McDonagh (52) is charged with murdering his next-door neighbour Mr McDonald on Whitechapel Road on July 25th, 2020.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The State has not accepted his plea.
In his closing speech to the jury on Tuesday, Philipp Rahn SC, for the prosecution, said the evidence shows that Mr McDonagh killed Mr McDonald in a "violent, sustained and merciless attack... leaving him no chance".
He described the killing as "horrific" and "brutal", and said the defence had not established that at the time of the attack Mr McDonagh was operating under a mental disorder.
"He is not only responsible for killing Mr McDonald but for his murder and a true verdict on the evidence is one of murder," he said.
Psychiatric history
John Fitzgerald SC, defending, said his client has a lengthy psychiatric history with multiple diagnoses of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
For 20 years, Mr Fitzgerald said, his client was prescribed antipsychotic medication. "Medication is not a diagnosis," he said, "but you would like to think a person is not going to be prescribed medication for 20 years if there wasn't at least some diagnosis".
There was further evidence, counsel said, that Mr McDonagh's condition deteriorated further in the lead-up to the killing and in the hours leading up to the attack he appeared to be "raging against the world".
"He was drawing attention to himself all night in front of his neighbours, roaring and shouting, blessing himself, banging a machete off the wall... None of this is consistent with any kind of planned killing or clever tactical thinking or anything like that."
Counsel said that the suggestion had been made that Mr McDonagh was a "malingerer or a liar" but he asked the jury to consider how that sits with a mental health history going back to 1999. "If he's been lying or malingering all those years, it's a hell of a performance," he said.
He described the killing as irrational and "very far from being a planned, cleverly executed killing".
Mr Justice MacGrath has been summarising the evidence heard in the trial and will complete his charge tomorrow (THU) morning.
