A woman on trial for alleged attempted murder stabbed a woman on the Luas two weeks earlier, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Laura Kenna (35), of no fixed abode, is charged with the attempted murder of Fionnuala Bourke on Lower Drumcondra Road, Dublin 9 on January 3rd, 2017. She is also charged with assault intending to cause serious harm.
Ms Kenna has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to both counts.
Opening the case on Tuesday, prosecuting counsel, Anthony Sammon SC, said the central issue was the state of mind of Ms Kenna at the time. He said the jury would hear evidence from two consultant psychiatrists from the Central Mental Hospital and there would be a conflict in the opinions of the doctors.
Mr Sammon told the jury that Ms Bourke, a civil servant, was walking home from work at about 5pm on the day in question when she was attacked by Ms Kenna with a knife. Mr Sammon said Ms Bourke’s “throat was slit” and she suffered “severe facial scarring”.
Upon her arrest the following day, Ms Kenna told gardaí: “I’m guilty. Yeah, I f**ing did it. Is she still alive? Yeah I did it, I sliced her like you would a goat. You couldn’t have stitched that up, I cut through her like butter,” the jury heard.
Counsel for Kenna, Barry White SC, called Dr Stephen Monks, consultant forensic psychiatrist based at the Central Mental Hospital, to give evidence on Thursday.
Dr Monks told the jury that he interviewed Ms Kenna on two occasions in 2018 and, in his opinion, Ms Kenna had schizophrenic affective disorder and presented concurrently with psychotic delusions and hallucinations.
In addition, she had manic mood swings and grandiose delusions. He said she was hearing noises where in reality there were no noises. He said Ms Kenna believed she was receiving messages from the television and could communicate with celebrities.
Dr Monks told the jury that two weeks before the alleged attempted murder of Ms Bourke, Ms Kenna stabbed a woman on the Luas tram in the face with a pen. Ms Kenna believed the woman had been saying things about her under her breath but it was “most likely” the woman had not said anything at all. She intended to stab her in the eye.
Shortly after being released from Garda custody for the Luas incident, Ms Kenna stated that she thought she was going to be “eaten” and that if she did not kill someone she would not survive. She stated that she was being talked into killing somebody by the “voices in her head”.
Under cross examination from Mr Sammon, for the prosecution, Dr Monks said Ms Kenna had been labouring under delusions about killing people for a long time before the attack on Ms Bourke and was allegedly “killing someone for a purpose that wasn’t related to stealing a handbag”.
For the prosecution, Professor Harry Kennedy, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, told the jury that he and Dr Monks were in agreement on many matters including Ms Kenna’s diagnosis.
However, Prof Kennedy said Ms Kenna did know what she was doing when she attacked Ms Bourke and was not entitled to the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
By Ms Kenna’s own account, Prof Kennedy said she had gotten a sharp knife to rob somebody and selected an appropriate victim. He referred to Ms Kenna’s comments that she had let another woman “go” and selected Ms Bourke because “she was only little”.
Referring to Ms Bourke’s statement in which she recalled Ms Kenna telling her ‘if you give me your bag, I’ll let you go’ in a normal tone, Prof Kennedy said that had nothing to do with delusion. It was “straightforward” and part of the negotiated robbery.
Prof Kennedy said Ms Kenna knew what she was doing was wrong — she took the bag and ran away — and there was no evidence that she was unable to refrain from committing the attack on account of her condition. She had an ability to cease and desist which she exercised once she had achieved her primary goal which, Prof Kennedy said, was to rob Ms Bourke’s handbag because she had no money.
He said he was unable to connect delusions about supernatural forces with a robbery at knifepoint and a demand to Ms Bourke to give up her bag.
In contrast, Prof Kennedy said he believed Ms Kenna was entitled to a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity for the Luas stop attack — which was recorded by a jury in a previous trial. Prof Kennedy said the victim of the Luas stop incident gave an account of what Ms Kenna was saying at the time of that assault. It was independent evidence that Ms Kenna was responding to hallucinations at the time. Furthermore, she waited very near to the scene of the assault until the gardaí arrived.
In summary, Prof Kennedy said it appeared Ms Kenna knew the nature and quality of what she was doing when she attacked Ms Bourke, which meant she was not entitled to a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
The jury of seven men and five women will hear closing speeches from the defence and prosecution on Friday before Mr Justice Robert Eagar advises the jury on the evidence they have heard.
The trial continues.