A man who fatally stabbed a woman in Co Kildare last year has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
The verdict is a result of legislation which came into force June under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 and it replaces the former verdict of guilty but insane.
The Central Criminal Court jury of seven men and five women took just under half an hour to reach their verdict.
John Egan (50), from Poplar Grove, Naas, Co Kildare, had pleaded not guilty to murdering 46 year-old Francis Ralph, a mother-of-three, at a taxi rank in Naas on August 18th last year.
Under provisions made in the new Act, Mr Justice Paul Carney directed that he be kept at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum pending a review of his case.
Egan, who suffers from a rare form of motor neurone disease and communicates with the aid of a machine, did not show any sign of emotion as the verdict was read out.
Dr Harry Kennedy, clinical director and consultant psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital told the court that Egan had been admitted to hospital due to mental illness on a number of occasions.
He stopped working as a chef in 1985, at the same time as "his behaviour was beginning to give cause for concern". His sister died and he began to drink heavily before his life became marked by a "pattern of increasing disorganisation".
He was first admitted to hospital in 1993 following the death of his father, but his psychiatric condition was puzzling and gave rise to a number of different diagnoses. Among them were frontal lobe syndrome, schizophrenia, and abnormal personality.
He later returned to live in a flat both on his own and with a fellow patient but his behaviour became more troublesome.
He was involved in a number of altercations which drew him to the attention of Gardai, including an altercation with an elderly woman for which he was sentenced to a 18 months in prison. No abnormality was found when he was admitted at that time.
He was released from Mountjoy in August 2004 and was advised not to drink alcohol. In July 2005 he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
It was noted at the time that he was 'very sensitive' and was easily offended.
Frances Ralph had gone out to dinner with her husband to celebrate their friends wedding anniversary.
Her husband, Michael Ralph told the court that they went to get a taxi sometime after midnight. He said they were slagging their wives because 'they were talking so much we had missed a number of taxis.'
He was holding his wife's hand and they were first in the queue when someone shouted "run". They moved out onto the road and they were still holding hands.
"Frances said to me, 'Michael, I think I've been pinched', and with that she fell to the ground," he said. "There was blood everywhere. It was like a river. It was terrible."
He saw a man with a knife in his right hand and he put it back in his bag before walking away. A number of other people followed him.
The victim was then taken to the hospital in Naas in a Garda car, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Mr Ralph broke down in the witness box as told prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan SC that they had never come into with Mr Egan before. "It came totally out of the blue," he said.
A number of other witnesses told the court that they had seen Mr Egan being removed from the Five Lamps pub earlier on that night after he hit a woman twice on the head.
A statement read on behalf of Mr Ralph after the verdict said: "For such a good person to have their life cut short in circumstances where the law left so many unanswered questions, there will be no option but to pursue these unanswered questions in order to try and prevent any other family having to go through the extreme sadness that we've experienced and will continue to do so in the future."