A woman who stabbed her 76-year-old mother to death in the belief she was the devil just five days after she was released from psychiatric care will remain in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) where she is undergoing treatment.
A judge made the order in respect of Moire Bergin on Tuesday morning, nearly two weeks after a jury returned the special verdict of not guilty of murder by reason of insanity following a trial at the Central Criminal Court.
James Dwyer SC, prosecuting, told Mr Justice Paul McDermott on Tuesday that he had a report from consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Ronan Mullaney of the CMH.
The prosecutor said that having examined Ms Bergin, Dr Mullaney is of the view that she continues to suffer from a mental disorder and is in need of "ongoing treatment".
Mr Dwyer asked the court to make the order under the provisions of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 for her to continue her treatment in the CMH.
Mr Justice McDermott said he would make the appropriate order under the 2006 Act and committed her to the CMH, and thanked all parties for their assistance in the case.
Ms Bergin (47), of Seville Place, Dublin 1, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of her elderly mother, Mary Bergin, in her home on First Avenue, Seville Place, Dublin 1 on April 13th, 2022.
On July 3rd, the 12 jurors accepted the evidence given by two consultant forensic psychiatrists that the defendant was suffering from bipolar affective disorder with symptoms of mania, depression and psychosis at the time of the killing and fulfilled the criteria for the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
The case, Ms Bergin's defence counsel Fiona Murphy SC had told the trial, was a "heartbreaking" one, in which the defendant stood accused of murdering her elderly mother, "the one person to whom she felt closest with, and who supported her tirelessly through her life".
The trial heard Moire Bergin had struggled with her mental health since 2005 and was detained 16 times under the Mental Health Act prior to the killing.
Symptoms of Ms Bergin's mental illness included religious delusions and exposing herself, which one psychiatrist said was a clear indicator that she was not well.
Deterioration
The defendant's mental health deteriorated significantly in the year leading up to the fatal stabbing, with more frequent admissions to hospital.
Ms Bergin had six psychiatric admissions to hospital between March 6th, 2021, and April 8th, 2022, and was last released from hospital five days before killing her mother.
The two psychiatrists called as expert witnesses were both in agreement that the defendant met the three criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006 in that she did not know the nature and quality of the act, was unable to appreciate that what she did at the time was morally wrong, and would have been unable to refrain from her actions.
The one-day trial at the Central Criminal Court, which Mr Justice McDermott described as "stark and deeply tragic", heard a bloodstained Ms Bergin was found naked on a Dublin street after fatally stabbing her mother in the head and neck.
She told a garda at the scene: "I killed my mother, I killed her. She is inside covered in blood."
A 999 call had been made by Mary Bergin hours before she was killed, seeking an ambulance for her daughter, who was naked in the back garden at the time.
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers, who carried out a post-mortem examination on Mary Bergin's body, found stab wounds to her neck and forehead, as well as defensive injuries to the back of the forearms.
The trial heard she experienced significant blood loss which had caused organ failure and death.
During interviews at Store Street Garda station, the defendant talked about the devil "being the ruination of souls", and having seen the devil in her mother's eyes.
The jury of six men and six women spent one hour and seven minutes deliberating on July 3rd before returning a unanimous verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
