A Clare man accused of murdering his uncle has been found guilty but insane at the Central Criminal Court.
John McInerney, Abbey West, Belharbour, Co Clare, killed Mr Seán Daly on April 30th, 2003, at the family home, in the belief that his uncle was possessed by the devil.
He is to be detained indefinitely at the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin.
The court heard that Mr Daly died as a result of blows to the head and body from various instruments. Forensic psychiatrist Dr Henry Kennedy said his injuries were consistent with those inflicted by someone in a highly-aroused state, using far more force than necessary.
Dr Kennedy, a consultant at the Central Mental Hospital , concluded from examinations and medical records, that McInerney suffered from acute schizophrenia. He described it as "the most severe of mental illnesses" from which one in 1,000 people suffered.
He said it was a devastating illness, where the patient experienced delusions, hallucinations and instability of emotional life not connected with what is going on in the real world.
He told Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for McInerney, that he had been admitted to a local psychiatric hospital 16 times since 1984 and twice to such hospitals in England. He was of the opinion that he was severely ill, deluded and in a disturbed emotional state.
The court heard that on St Patrick's Day of last year, he had gone missing and was found standing on the altar of an old abbey with a pitchfork in one hand and a container of water in the other.
He believed he was using holy water to ward off the devil, who was trying to take over the altar.
He had also killed a dog, which he believed was possessed by the devil, using similar implements to those he used the following night to kill his uncle.
McInerney had told Dr Kennedy that on the night before he killed his uncle, he was restless and heard voices as well as "strange and terrible noises" on the street. He had warned his mother that the devil was trying to break in. He armed himself with an axe, pitchfork and a stick carved with eight notches, which he believed had magical powers.
He carried out a ritual, whereby he left an axe under a Bible, hoping the magic from one of its pictures would enter and empower the axe.
After a mostly sleepless night, he got up at about 6 a.m., at which time he found a mirror to use as a shield. He had a number of conversations with his mother and uncle, who was also staying in the house. He wanted to go to a friary to tell of his experience of the devil entering his body and asked his uncle, who had a bad hip, if he was going to get up. There was an argument when he asked the elderly man for money. Instead, his mother gave him some cash before leaving, alarmed by her son's behaviour and speech.
It was after that he went into his uncle's room and beat him to death.
The doctor, described by Mr Justice Carney as "the most highly qualified forensic psychiatrist in the State", had no doubt that McInerney believed his uncle was possessed by the devil.
Dr Kennedy said his patient was "acting on delusional beliefs" inseparable from his delusions. His patient's beliefs dominated his consciousness and he could not think of alternative possibilities.
Dr Kennedy told the court that at the time of the attack, McInerney's "ability to reason about right and wrong was not functional" and he truly believed he was doing something right and essential by killing a man possessed by the devil.
He maintained that McInerney was "labouring under the defect of reason" during the "most severe of relapses into schizophrenia". His capacity to stop himself, he said, was "probably absent".
The court also heard from McInerney's neighbour and friend, Mr Gerard Kearns.
Minutes after the attack, McInerney had arrived, covered in blood, on Mr Kearns's doorstep. He told the court that when he asked him why he had done it, he replied: "I had to do it. The devil was in him."
McInerney has been taken for treatment to the Central Medical Hospital.