Man stabbed his mother ten times, jury told

A man stabbed his mother 10 times with a kitchen knife and then kicked her and beat her with a brush handle until it broke as she lay on the ground, the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar heard yesterday.

The reason Paul Henry attacked his late mother, Ann Henry, at 3 The Spinney, Abbeytown, Roscommon Town, on September 17, 2011, was because he did not like her suggestion as to where he should live, Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury was told.

Mr Henry, aged 25, denies a charge of murdering his mother, aged 47, who “stumbled” from her home after being stabbed in her kitchen.

Opening the case, Una Ní Raifeartaigh, prosecuting, said that Mr Henry had been involuntarily detained against his will in a mental hospital for a number of weeks prior to the incident in which his mother died. He had been released after his case came up for review by a Mental Health Tribunal, the court heard.

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh said the accused and his mother had been cleaning her house when “a row of sorts” developed and he took a kitchen knife and stabbed her.

“Neighbours said she got pushed and kicked to the ground by her son.

“He kicked her repeatedly on the ground. People shouted at him to stop. He [son] took a brush handle and beat her with that.

“She was dead by the time she got to hospital.”

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh described the case as “terribly tragic”, a mother dead at the hands of her son.

There had been “a lot of history” before the stabbing, she continued.

Mr Henry showed signs of mental difficulties from an early stage. He started drinking and his parents had difficulties managing him.

The court was told Ms Henry suffered a horrific beating after being stabbed 10 times, seven times in the back. She was kicked in the face and all over her body. Her attacker ignored pleas for bystanders to stop.

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh quoted from a witness statement of Tom Greally who said he knelt down beside Ms Henry she called out to him: “Tom, Tom come here, I’ve been stabbed.”

She then said she was going to die. She took a ring from her hand and asked her to give it to another son, Phelim Jr.

Mr Henry denied killing his mother when interviewed, according to Detective Inspector Patrick Finlay.

Mr Henry denied having admitted to a garda at the scene that he killed his mother and said he found her injured on the ground after she left the house get something from her car.

“I did not do anything to my mother. I have the best time for her,” he stated.

The court was told Ms Henry and her husband, Phelim Sr had separated in 2007 because of difficulties in raising their son.

Since his arrest, Mr Henry has been detained in the Central Mental Hospital.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Tom Fahy told the hearing the accused told him he had been getting on well with his mother until about six months before her death.

There had been arguments during his adolescence about his heavy drinking which involved the consumption of a bottle of whiskey with additional cans of cider in the evening.

He added that Mr Henry, who was diagnosed with ADHD as a youngster, had decided to cut down on alcohol after spending time in prison as he “was getting into too much trouble”.

The trial continues.