'Just and humane society' seeks not to punish those who are unwell, defence reminds murder trial jury

Alison O'Riordan

Lawyers for a Donegal man who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering his grandfather have reminded a jury that a "just and humane society" seeks not to punish those who are unwell, but to treat them with specialist care, while the State has said there is "convergence of psychiatric opinion" in the case.

The jurors in the trial of 39-year-old Derek Mulligan are expected to begin their deliberations on Friday at the Central Criminal Court.

Two psychiatrists have told the trial that the native Irish speaker, who admits causing fatal injuries to his 78-year-old grandfather, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time and fulfils the criteria for a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Central Criminal Court jury has heard that Mulligan described to gardaí how he "smacked" a granite stone off his grandfather's head outside his home in the Donegal Gaeltacht before using a cement block to "finish it off".

Evidence has been given that Mulligan, who as a child suffered serious sexual abuse at the hands of school caretaker Michael Ferry, told professionals that the paedophile's release from prison had caused him to "spiral".

Patricia McLaughlin, along with Fiona Crawford, previously told the trial that Ferry was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he was convicted of sexual offending against several boys, including the accused.

Mulligan (39), with an address at Carrickcoyle, Derrybeg, Gweedore in Co Donegal, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his grandfather Derek Burns (78) at Carrickcoyle on December 19th, 2023.

Dr Ronan Mullaney, for the defence, said Mulligan was suffering from the mental disorder of paranoid schizophrenia at the time. He said the accused would have been unable to know the wrongfulness of his actions and was unable to refrain from committing the act.

Dr Stephen Monks, called by the prosecution, told the jury that the accused was suffering from the severe mental disorder paranoid schizophrenia when he killed his grandfather.

He said by reason of this mental disorder, the accused did not know the nature and quality of what he was doing, did not know what he was doing was wrong and was unable to refrain from committing the act.

In her closing address on Thursday, McLaughlin called the case a "very difficult and harrowing" one, telling the jury that the focus of their deliberations was not so much about what happened but why it happened.

Counsel said there had been a serious deterioration in Mulligan's mental health in the weeks leading up to December 17th, 2023.

The prosecutor told the jury that the issue they must focus on is whether the defence of not guilty by reason of insanity applies. She said there was a consensus between the two psychiatrists that the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time he engaged in the conduct.

"There is a convergence of psychiatric opinion that he is entitled to the special verdict," she concluded.

In his closing speech, defence counsel, Michael Bowman with Simon Gillespie, said Burns' life was tragically taken by the uncontested actions of his client. He said the battleground of the case is the mental state of the accused at the time.

Bowman said a "just and humane society" seeks not to punish those who are unwell, but to treat them with specialist care in a specialist environment.

Counsel said what "comes out loud and clear" from the evidence is that Burns was a good, decent, honourable and compassionate man, whose life was taken in circumstances he could never have comprehended or anticipated.

The lawyer said Mulligan viewed his grandfather as his father, and it was a relationship of close affection, mutual respect and love. He said his client had become tearful during his interviews, describing what had taken place.

"At the heart of the case is a good man taken too early".

Quite often in these cases, Bowman said it is those who are held nearest and dearest to those with a mental illness that pay the ultimate price.

Counsel said his client was habitually sexually abused by a person in his educational environment between the ages of 10 and 16. When the perpetrator had served an extensive period of time in custody and was released in 2021, it led to the accused having another psychotic episode, he continued.

He said Mulligan was also abused again by a different person and went on to shave his head and change his appearance so that those who abused him would not find him.

Bowman said the accused's life had been punctuated by hospital inpatient stays, which began when he was 18 years old. He said Mulligan became preoccupied with paedophiles, rapists and abusers and every time the accused spoke with professionals, this was something on his mind.

"He leaves a breadcrumb of psychiatric treatment everywhere he goes".

The barrister said Mulligan was poor at self-medicating and struggled to cope with "demons" in his mind, such as the delusion that he could identify paedophiles by their smell or by looking at their trousers.

"He tried to drown it out through alcohol and drugs. In reality just beneath the surface there is a major mental health illness".

Bowman said the accused's schizophrenia had taken such a hold on him that even medication struggled to manage it and he had been on 50 per cent above the recommended dose of Olanzapine.

Counsel described the evidence in the case as tragic but said it was undeniably the case that the accused had a mental illness at the time and that both doctors agreed the special verdict was applicable.

He asked the jury to bring in a verdict in accordance with that evidence.

Mulligan has also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity that on December 17th, 2023 at Carrickcoyle, he did without lawful excuse damage property, to wit the windscreen of a Nissan Quashqui belonging to Catherine McDermott, intending to damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be damaged.

The defendant has further pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity that on the same occasion he did without lawful excuse make threats to McDermott to kill or cause her serious harm, intending her to believe that these threats be carried out.

In addition, Mulligan has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of assaulting Breege McFadden and Derek McFadden at Carrickmacafferty, Derrybeg in Co Donegal on the same date.