Son appeals his acquittal for mother’s murder

A Roscommon man acquitted of murdering his mother by reason of insanity last year has brought an appeal against his acquittal.

Paul Henry, aged 29, had pleaded not guilty to Ann Henry’s murder at The Spinney, Abbeystown, Roscommon, in September 2011. A jury acquitted him at a Castlebar sitting of the Central Criminal Court and he was sent to the Central Mental Hospital on May 7, 2014.

Henry is seeking a retrial so he can plead and be convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, thereby incurring a determinative sentence rather than being under an indefinite regime at the Central Mental Hospital possibly for the rest of his life.

The Court of Appeal must first determine whether it has jurisdiction to hear an appeal against an acquittal on grounds of insanity, an appeal which has never been brought previously and for which no explicit powers were given to the court upon its establishment.

The DPP is seeking to have the insanity verdict upheld. Counsel for Henry, Colm Smyth, said it was accepted that the trial judge misdirected the jury when the burden to prove insanity, which was not introduced by the defence, was passed to the defence.

Mr Smyth submitted that the Court of Appeal had the jurisdiction required to order a retrial. Its predecessor, the Court of Criminal Appeal, always had an inherent jurisdiction to correct wrongs if it was satisfied that a trial was unsatisfactory. It would “turn the textbooks” on their heads if the Court of Appeal found it had no power to correct a mistake committed in a lower court. Henry would be left with no remedy having been subjected to an unsatisfactory trial and a misdirection on the burden of proof.

Mr Smyth wondered whether the Oireachtas intended to create an “appalling vista” such as this and said it was the first opportunity the court had to deal with this “thorny issue”. He said Henry was a vulnerable person who had been left in this difficult position.

Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan suggested that the outcome for Henry could be substantially different depending on the verdict. The current outcome had led to detention in the Central Mental Hospital and heavy medication whereas a conviction for murder would have led to a completely different regime in terms of his health.

One might say, Mr Justice Sheehan suggested, that Henry might have a better life in prison than in the Central Mental Hospital even if he gets a life sentence.

Mr Justice Birmingham said the court would reserve judgment and deliver it “as soon as we can”.