Mother of tragic Skeffington brothers recalls day of horror at family home

The mother of two brothers who died in a murder-suicide has called for greater education and awareness around mental health problems.

Carmel Skeffington recalled the day in July of last year when she and her husband returned home from shopping to find that their 20-year-old son Shane Michael had stabbed his nine-year-old brother, Brandon, and then taken his own life.

Speaking on the Today with Sean O’Rourke show on RTÉ radio, Ms Skeffington said they realised something was wrong with Shane Michael about two months before the tragedy when he had attacked his father out of the blue.

Following the incident, Shane Michael was admitted to the high-dependency unit in St Columba’s Hospital in Sligo. He was discharged after six days and his parents were told he had suffered a psychotic episode.

Ms Skeffington said she “just hadn’t realised” how sick her son was and presumed that because he had been discharged he was fine.

On July 20 last year, she and her husband went out shopping and returned to the horrific scene. She said everything was fine when they had left.

“Everything seemed fine when we left, Shane Michael was in Brandon’s room. That was nothing unusual — they spent a lot of time together. When we came back we brought in the shopping. We were home, maybe 10 minutes to maybe 15 minutes and I went upstairs to see what the boys wanted to eat and as I got up near the top of the stairs, I seen [sic] that Brandon was lying on the ground on his back.

Brandon Skeffington (LEFT): The nine year-old was found by his mother at the top of the stairs. Shane Michael Skeffington (RIGHT): Was hospitalised with mental illness but released after six days.

“At first I thought he was messing as he was a right little joker. But when I got closer, I realised that something was badly wrong. So I called for my husband Shane and he came up, and I ran downstairs and dialled 999, and they talked us through CPR and my husband did CPR until the paramedics arrived maybe a half an hour later,” she said.

Ms Skeffington said she didn’t consider the possibility that her older son was responsible for the killing and only went looking for him around 45 minutes after the paramedics arrived.

She said more needs to be done to educate people regarding young people with severe mental illness.

“I think more needs to be done along the lines of following up. I mean Shane Michael didn’t go to his appointments — he was discharged, people need to be educated more. Knowing the dangers of a psychotic episode or that it could happen again,” she said.