Man battered mother for 'wrecking his head', court hears

A 38-year-old man on trial for murdering his mother told gardaí he battered her to death because she was domineering and "wrecking" his head, the Central Criminal Court heard today.

Kevin Bridgeman has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Marie Bridgeman, aged 56, at their home at Old Mill Estate, Ratoath, Co Meath between January 21 and January 22, 2003.

The jury of 10 men and two women heard the accused told gardaí he killed her because she was "domineering" and "psyching" him out.

Justice Barry White, presiding, told the jury that the issue they had to decide is "not whether Mr Bridgeman killed his mother but rather, what was the state of his mind at the time".

Mr Bridgeman was since detained at the Central Mental Hospital.

The court heard that Marie Bridgeman lived with the accused at Old Mill, a small housing estate, since the summer of 2001.

On the night of the killing, she travelled from Dublin to Ratoath on the 103 bus, arriving there at 11.36am.

She phoned Kevin Bridgeman and he met her from the bus. Shortly afterwards, "a number of neighbours heard a commotion" in the grounds of a nearby house.

"They looked out and saw Kevin Bridgeman jumping up and down in a most agitated and furious manner."

It emerged that what he was jumping on was, in fact, his mother’s body.

Counsel told the jury they would hear evidence from the State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy that Marie Bridgeman died from a combination of brain injury, inhalation of blood, facial fractures and compression of the neck.

In evidence, Sgt James Troy, Ashbourne, told the court the accused admitted during questioning killing his mother.

In a statement of interview read out in court Kevin Bridgeman stated: "I battered her to death with my fists…I kept hitting her with my fists…I hit her and I gouged out her eyes."

He also claimed to have stabbed his mother.

However, cross-examined by Mary Ellen Ring SC, defending, Sgt Troy said no knife was recovered and the post mortem recorded no such injuries.

Justice White, interjecting, observed that the accused’s claim of gouging out her eyes appeared to have been a similar "figment of his imagination".

According to the interview notes the accused man said an argument erupted when his mother told him to go to bed and turn off the light but he refused.

She then told him she was going to see his father and he called her back.

He said she was always domineering towards him and "wrecking my head". At one stage he told gardaí "she was like a cat".

Asked by gardai if he meant to kill her he replied "No" and that he was sorry.

In evidence, the accused’s father, Kevin Bridgeman Snr told the jury he got a call to go to Ashbourne garda station. When he arrived the accused said: "I killed me ma."