Man charged with killing his mother

A 46-YEAR-OLD man was last night granted bail after being charged with killing his elderly mother, who was found dead in her nursing home bed early on Monday.

Gerard Vollrath, formerly of Tramore, Co Waterford, but latterly living in Austria, is accused of the unlawful killing of Veronica (Vera) Vollrath, 83, at Killure Bridge Nursing Home, Waterford, on January 9.

Vollrath was arrested at Dublin Airport on Monday afternoon, hours after his mother died in her bedroom at the nursing home.

He was questioned at Waterford Garda station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act from Monday evening.

A postmortem on the remains of Mrs Vollrath had been carried out on Monday evening and gardaí launched an investigation yesterday morning.

Garda Maureen Neary told a special sitting of Waterford district court last night that she formally charged the accused at 7.40pm yesterday at the station.

When charged with the unlawful killing of Mrs Vollrath, the accused man had replied “no comment,” said Garda Neary.

Solicitor for the accused, Fionnuala Cronin, made an application for bail.

This was granted by Judge David Kennedy, on the accused man’s own bond of €900 and an independent surety of €5,000.

Vollrath was ordered to surrender his passport to gardaí, not to apply for any travel documents, to sign on daily at Waterford Garda station and reside at a nominated address in Tramore, which was not revealed in court.

Judge Kennedy remanded the accused to appear again before Waterford district court next Tuesday.