A man from Co Limerick shot his son in the yard of the family home following a "minor row", prosecuting counsel told a murder trial jury at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Mr Gerry Connell (54) pleaded not guilty to the murder of his son, Barry Connell (25) at the family home in Clyduff West, Lisnagry, Co Limerick on June 9th, 1999.
Opening the case, the prosecuting counsel, Mr John Edwards SC, told the jury that "the incident in which Barry Connell came to die was preceded by a minor row and exchange of words". Barry Connell had suffered from psychiatric problems for a number of years prior to his death and had been diagnosed with "acute manic psychosis".
He had been "behaving strangely" for a number of days prior to his death and on the evening of the incident he told Mr Gerry Connell that he was going drinking, against his father's wishes. He also told both his sister and his father that "there will be guards here tonight" and threatened to drive a tractor through the family house.
Following this, Mr Gerry Connell allegedly "went into his bedroom and retrieved his legally held shotgun. He then went back down to the yard and raised the gun and shot Barry," counsel stated.
Mr Edwards said that Barry Connell "was responsible for verbal and physical aggression, directed principally against his family". He had been a difficult patient to deal with, refusing to take his medication and abusing alcohol regularly.
The prosecution acknowledged that "this had caused a great deal of stress and tension in the household and for Gerry Connell". The wife of the accused, Ms Noreen Connell, died in April 1999 from cancer. Mr Connell had since lived as a widower in their home in Clyduff West with his three daughters and one son, Barry.
Ms Madeleine Bridgeman told the court that on the evening of the incident she recalled hearing a gunshot from her house and meeting another neighbour "running down the road screaming". She told of her neighbour calling her to come quick as "Gerry has shot Barry".
She said she ran up to the Connell house and saw Barry lying face down with a lot of blood around him. She said Mr Gerry Connell was in the kitchen of the house crying and he said to her: "I hurted Barry, I shot Barry." She said the accused had asked her to call an ambulance. She agreed with Mr Brendan Nix SC, for the defence, that the subsequent death of Barry was a "nightmare" and a "disaster" for the Connell family and their close neighbours.
Describing the accused as "a very obliging, lovely man who is very soft", she said Mr Gerry Connell was "very worried" about his son after he left a suicide note in a neighbour's house in the weeks prior to his death. She added that the deceased was admitted to the Psychiatric Ward of Limerick Regional Hospital a few weeks before his death but had discharged himself after three days.
Ms Rosemary Connell, a sister of the deceased, told the court that she and her father and two other sisters were afraid of their brother Barry. "He was aggressive and abusive and we were all afraid of him," she said. "Most of the time what he was saying did not make a lot of sense."
She said her father was under a lot of pressure "because he was afraid of him harming someone in the house" and had put a lock on the inside of his bedroom after his wife had died.
The trial continues before Mr Justice McKechnie today in the Central Criminal Court.