A man accused of the murder of his girlfriend and of causing serious harm to her mother by stabbing her was either insane at the time or did not intend his actions, a defence lawyer has argued.
In the Central Criminal Court, Mr Declan Burke (29) has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his former girlfriend, Ms Jennifer Wilkinson (24), at her home in Ballyboden, Dublin, on December 13th, 2000.
He also denies assault causing serious harm to her mother, Ms Mary Wilkinson (57) by stabbing her at the same house in Ballyboden on the same date.
The trial has heard that Mr Burke waited outside Ms Wilkinson's house for around five hours until she arrived home, and following an exchange of words with her outside, forced himself into the house and stabbed her and her mother.
The jury has also heard that the incident followed what a psychiatrist called "a chaotic life" in which Mr Burke was sexually abused from a young age by his father and tried to commit suicide "50 or 60 times", by his own account.
In closing speeches yesterday, the defence accepted that the accused stabbed the two women, but Mr Patrick MacEntee SC argued that a verdict of insanity was open to the jury, and that in any case the accused lacked the intent to kill or cause serious injury that proof of the charges required.
"I am inviting you to look at the history of this young man, to see what sort of an intention-forming apparatus he had and how it's likely to have been functioning on the night in question," Mr MacEntee said.
For the prosecution, Mr Edward Comyn SC argued that the past sexual abuse of the accused could not be used as an excuse for the taking of another person's life.
One of the things that the jury had to consider was life choices, Mr Comyn told them, and the accused man had made choices in his life.
The law obliged people to control their anger, and an accused person could not be excused just because they had become obsessively jealous or paranoid. Mr Burke was a jealous and brooding rejected lover, the prosecution argued.
Mr Comyn said there was evidence of planning in Burke's actions, including the fact that he brought a knife to the scene with him, and there was evidence of him "watching and waiting for hours" on the night in question and of stalking Jennifer Wilkinson on other nights.
He had also given a radically different account of his recollections of the night to the jury than he gave to a psychiatrist, Dr Ronald Draper, Mr Comyn said.
Mr MacEntee said the real issue in the case was intent.
"On the evidence, did Declan Burke, having regard to who he is, what he is and the situation in which he found himself, did he in any meaningful sense, intend to do what he undoubtedly did, because he cannot be convicted without that intent?" he said.
He told the jury it could not speculate, but that it must use its common sense.
The jury is expected to retire today after being addressed on the law of murder and of insanity by Mr Justice White.