A mentally ill Limerick man who strangled his mother in what a Central Criminal Court judge described as a "family tragedy", is to be sent to the Central Mental Hospital for further assessment.
Damien Donnan (25) was due to be sentenced for the manslaughter of his mother, Jennifer Donnan, whom he strangled at the family home in De Valera Park, Thomondgate, Limerick, on April 17th, 2000. His sentencing for manslaughter has been adjourned more than 20 times since his trial in 2002 in which Mr Justice Paul Carney criticised the State's antiquated insanity laws, which date back to 1843.
Isobel Kennedy SC, for Donnan, told Mr Justice Carney during a brief hearing at the Central Criminal Court that she had been hopeful the case might have proceeded to finality yesterday. However, she said it had proved extraordinarily difficult to date to provide an acceptable regime for Donnan. His probation officer was not in a position to make an assessment until she received assessments that needed to be done at the mental hospital.
Ms Kennedy said she had been told she would need a judge's order for him to be transferred to the mental hospital. When Mr Justice Carney questioned whether he had the jurisdiction to do this, Ms Kennedy said she would make his views known and the case was put back to April 24th to see if further progress can be made.
Mr Justice Carney said he considered as "wholly inappropriate" a headline in the Evening Herald which read "Mum killer remanded for 27th time".