A man has been found not guilty by reason of insanity of the manslaughter of a woman during a bus rampage in west Dublin two years ago.
Peter Clarke (38), formerly of Peter Street, Drogheda and with an address at Kiltalown Court, Tallaght was acquitted by the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following just under an hour and a half's deliberation.
Peter Clarke: not guilty by reason of insanity
Mr Clarke, who is currently a patient at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, had pleaded not guilty to 28 charges arising out of what was described as "an odyssey of destruction" when he took a 53-seat coach from a depot on May 7th, 2006 and drove it on a rampage through parts of west Dublin resulting in the death of Maire Buckley (62).
The jury heard admissions on Mr Clarke's behalf by Mr Hartnett earlier in the trial that he drove the Dualways Bus Company vehicle after taking it without authority from its depot in Rathcoole and that collisions occurred.
Defence counsel Hugh Hartnett SC submitted in his closing address that the jury should find Mr Clarke not guilty by reason of insanity based on the expert evidence given by Dr Henry Kennedy, clinical director of the Central Mental Hospital and by consultant psychiatrist Dr Patricia Casey of the Mater Hospital.
Dr Kennedy said the former City of London policeman was a paranoid schizophrenic suffering from delusions of being pursued by several police forces and intelligence services and had been diagnosed years before the bus incident both here and in the USA as psychotic.
Dr Kennedy said that as a result of his “persuasive delusions” Mr Clarke was unable to refrain from his rampage. “He knew what he was doing but he didn’t have the mental capacity to understand the consequences of his actions.”
Dr Casey said Clarke was "in the throes of an acute mental episode" when he drove into oncoming traffic at Bluebell Luas stop and didn't know the nature or quality of his actions. "He was too agitated, perplexed and terror-stricken to even consider right from wrong."
Prosecuting counsel Pauline Walley SC asked the jury in her closing address to consider the "clear and compelling evidence of the psychiatrists" who she said were satisfied that the accused wasn't "fabricating a mental disorder for the purpose of the trial".
Judge Desmond Hogan remanded Mr Clarke to the Central Mental Hospital.