Accused released from hospital ‘against doctors’ wishes’

A man who stabbed his mother 10 times with a kitchen knife was released earlier from a mental hospital against the wishes of the medical team that was treating him for paranoia and psychosis, a court has heard.

Dr Tom Fahy, consultant psychiatrist, told the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar that the discharge of Paul Henry, now aged 28, was decided on by a Mental Health Tribunal when he began to show improvement after he had been detained in hospital for three weeks.

Dr Fahy said after his release, Mr Henry, who is accused of killing his mother Ann Henry, aged 47, at 3 The Spinney, Abbeytown, Roscommon, stopped taking his anti-psychosis tablets and fell very rapidly out of the control of the team.