MR Brendan Patrick O'Donnell has been a schizophrenic probably since 14 or 15, his lawyer told the Central Criminal Court yesterday. He had been assessed, until he was "blue in the face", but had not received treatment.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, told the jury he would be calling Mr O'Donnell to give evidence to the court on Monday. He told the jurors they must try the case on the evidence and not "scapegoat" his client.
Mr MacEntee was opening the defence case on the 30th day of the trial of Mr O'Donnell (21), a native of Co Clare, but of no fixed abode, who has denied the murder of three people in the west of Ireland in 1994 and nine "other charges.
He has denied the murder of Imelda Riney (29) and her son Liam (3) between April 28th and May 8th, 1994. He also denied the murder of Father Joseph Walsh (37), former curate of Eyrecourt, Co Galway, between May 3rd and 8th, 1994, and the false imprisonment of Father Walsh.
Mr O'Donnell has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Ms Fiona Sampson and Mr Edward Cleary on May 7th, 1994, and to hijacking vehicles driven by both persons. He has also denied having a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life and for unlawful purposes on the same date.
Evidence for the State concluded yesterday after which Mr MacEntee opened the defence case. Counsel said Mr O'Donnell appeared before the court on a presumption of innocence which never shifts unless and until a verdict of guilty is delivered.
He urged the jurors to ignore the publicity about the case and the events of April and May 1994. He said this would be an extremely difficult task in such an emotive case, but must be done.
He said no one said otherwise than that the killing of three human beings "a lovely young woman in the prime of her life, her infant child and a well loved priest" was a dreadful thing to have happened.
Mr MacEntee said the difficulty for the defence was that their advice was, from "highly reputable" psychiatrists and psychologists, that Mr O'Donnell suffered from "a very, very grave mental illness called schizophrenia".
There would be evidence from, these medical witnesses that Mr O'Donnell suffered from schizophrenia at all relevant times and that at the time he committed the offences, if he committed them, that he was suffering from schizophrenia, counsel said.
He told the jury that if they had doubt about the alleged offences, they must find Mr O'Donnell not guilty.
If they were satisfied he did commit the offences, then they must decide if he was sane at the time, Mr MacEntee said. The law presumed that citizens were sane but that presumption might be displaced, he said.
He was calling Mr O'Donnell as a witness of truth, but he told the jury they must be aware that Mr O'Donnell's truth was the truth of a schizophrenic.
Mr MacEntee said his medical witnesses believed Mr O'Donnell was schizophrenic since probably the age of 15. He would be calling evidence that would satisfy the jury beyond doubt that Mr O'Donnell had been deeply disturbed since the age of three or four.
Mr O'Donnell had been attending psychiatric institutions since the age of three, and the court would hear evidence that at the age of four he had a morbid fear of food, and of worms coming out of his ears. His mother had had to accompany him to school.
Mr MacEntee said the court would hear from his teachers that Mr O'Donnell was a deeply disturbed little boy and could not accept his mother's death when he was nine and was often found lying on her grave.
There would also be evidence of his belief that his sister was poisoning his milk and of how he, stabbed her. Mr MacEntee said his client was then committed to Ballinasloe Mental Hospital.
Counsel said the jury would hear how Mr O'Donnell ended up in boys' homes connected with the penal system", had run away regularly and had cut himself or had another prisoner cut him in Spike Island prison down to the sinews of his wrist. He had bitten the stitches out and was then moved to the Central Mental Hospital where he was kept for three months.