Family warns others to act after brother killed parents

The family of a paranoid schizophrenic who killed both his parents has said they want to ensure that other families take action before mental illness turns to tragedy.

Julian Cuddihy, 43, was yesterday found not guilty by reason of insanity of the murder of his parents Kathleen, 73, and James, 77, at their home in Churchtown, Carndonagh, Co Donegal, on October 22, 2014.

Following the verdict, Julian’s brother James Jnr, speaking on behalf of the family, said: “This is a tragedy for all our family, in particular our beloved parents, Jimmy and Kathleen, but also for our brother Julian. A major factor in all this is while we did take steps to try to get our brother to professional help, decisive actions were not taken by our family which would have prevented this tragedy.

“We hope that nothing like this will ever happen to another family. We would urge families with similar concerns about the mental wellbeing of a family member to seek timely assistance and intervention.”

The jury deliberated for 40 minutes before reaching unanimous verdicts on both counts.

Ms Justice Heneghan said she would like to extend her “deepest sympathies” to the Cuddihy family. She committed Mr Cuddihy to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. He will return to court on June 20.