A mentally-ill man accused of killing his father in a frenzied knife attack because he thought he was the devil has been found guilty of murder, but insane, at the Central Criminal Court.
Kevin Parker, aged 45, with an address at Montree House in Athlone, Co Westmeath was sentenced to be detained indefinitely in the Central Mental Hospital or a similar institution.
During the four-day trial the court heard that Parker was convinced he was God's chosen avenger and was in the grip of unshakeable schizophrenic delusions when he stabbed his father repeatedly in the face and neck.
State pathologist Dr John Harbison told the court Kevin Parker's father, John, died from loss of blood from numerous stab wounds, including more than 20 to his face and neck. He also had several wounds on his hands where he had tried to protect himself from a knife attack, Dr Harbison said.
He said the wounds were consistent with being inflicted by someone in a "deranged or agitated state" because many were not aimed at vital organs.
Parker pleaded not guilty to the murder of John Parker (75) at Glasson Village near Athlone between September 28 and 29 in 2000.
The court heard after his arrest, Kevin Parker told gardai he had entered his father's house, grabbed a knife then walked up to him and stabbed him as he was watching a football match on television. He told gardai he had earlier got a message from the bible telling him to kill the devil or see a priest.
The jury heard Kevin Parker had been suffering from a mental illness, which was eventually diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia, since at least 1997 and had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals.