A YOUNG Cavan man has been jailed for life for murdering his father at their home two years ago.
It took the jury of seven women and four men at the Central Criminal Court almost four hours to reach its unanimous verdict, finding Séamus Fitzgerald (21) guilty of murdering his father James Fitzgerald (56) in Lisgar, Bailieborough, Co Cavan, on January 8th, 2006.
It was the prosecution’s case that Fitzgerald killed his father to steal money from him to buy a car.
During the trial, the court heard that Fitzgerald was a “loving child” but that, when he was 15 years old, his attitude “changed completely”. His sister Mary told the jury that she noticed this change in his character – “from growing up, loving and caring, involved with friends and with drama groups, then to change to be very withdrawn, lack of conversation, quite the opposite of what he was.” At the age of 11, he had begun to sniff glue and aerosols, then smoke cannabis. He became prone to mood swings and aggressive behaviour.
A number of psychiatrists told the court that Fitzgerald suffers from Anti-Social Personality Disorder, resulting in “callous unconcern for the feelings of others and a disregard for social norms”. On the night of the murder, Fitzgerald was at home. He was in the sitting-room, watching television and drinking – four cans of beer in the time up until midnight.
Fitzgerald’s father and mother, Susan, were in the kitchen, also watching television. They had earlier returned from the grocery shop they owned and managed in Bailieborough. Mr Fitzgerald had the shop’s takings with him, which amounted to about €4,000. Mrs Fitzgerald went to bed shortly after midnight.
The court was told that Fitzgerald had wanted to buy a car and had been looking for money from his sister. When she told him that she did not have that kind of money, he told her he might ask his father for it. Fitzgerald later told gardaí that it was while he was watching the film Goodfellas he got it into his head to kill his father. He did this by strangling him with a telephone flex as he slept in front of the television and then stabbing him four times.
After the killing, Fitzgerald had taken money and a mobile phone from his father. He left the house with his passport and got a lift to Navan. He met a group of people, drank some Bacardi and took some cocaine with them.
That morning, he called the gardaí in Bailieborough and told them that he had killed his father. During interviews that Sunday, he told Garda Peter O’Sullivan that he “always had it in his head growing up to kill someone”.
Yesterday, Alex Owens SC, prosecuting, told Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins that the family wanted Fitzgerald to “receive some treatment. . . which would be of assistance, because they’re concerned that he’s quite dangerous”.
Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins told Fitzgerald that he was imprisoning him for life and that he would “recommend wholeheartedly that any appropriate treatment would be made available”.
The jury had been told that they had to decide if Fitzgerald was suffering from a mental disorder that substantially diminished his responsibility for the killing.