Murder accused admitted killing to wife, court hears

A father-of-four picked up his wife from a Dart station and told her he had killed their 12-year-old son with a lump hammer, the trial of a Dublin man accused of murdering his son heard at the Central Criminal Court today.

John Carroll (aged 49), of Bayview Rise, Killiney, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his son, Andrew Carroll (aged 12), at their home on April 30, 2004.

Mr Paddy Gageby SC, prosecuting, outlined the facts of the case to the jury.

"There are only two verdicts in this case: guilty of murder or either guilty of the act of murder, but insane," he said.

What John, also known as Sean, Carroll did to his son is not in dispute, the court heard.

At the time of the killing, the accused lived in the family home with his wife, Trudy, and children, Gregory (aged 16), Andrew, the deceased, and twins, Lorna and Nathaniel (aged 9).

"At the outset, this was a perfectly normal household," Mr Gageby said.

The accused, a seaman, was described as "controlling and reserved". His wife worked in the civil service and the family were "relatively well off".

On the day, Carroll stayed at home from work and was home alone with Andrew. His son, Gregory, arrived home at 5pm.

"His father said to him, ‘I killed Andrew’," Mr Gageby said.

"This was terrible news for such a boy to hear," he said.

"Sometime around 11 that morning, Mr Carroll had killed the boy and put his lifeless body upstairs and covered it with a duvet or sheet," Mr Gageby said.

The accused then phoned his wife who was still at work. He asked her to come home and went to pick her up at the Dart station.

"He told his wife he had killed Andrew with a lump hammer in the kitchen," Mr Gageby told the court.

Gardaí were phoned at 6.22 pm and arrived two minutes later.

"Gardaí found the cold body of the boy upstairs. He had been manifestly dead for a while," Mr Gageby said.

The accused was interviewed at the home and told gardaí: "I just flipped, I killed my son."

"He made no secret of killing his son," Mr Gageby said.

The reason the accused gave gardaí for the killing "defied logic", the court heard.

In the month leading up to the killing, Mr Carroll had become increasingly obsessed by the idea of impending bankruptcy and being investigated by the Revenue.

"Both Mr Carroll and his wife were doing nicely, with secure jobs and pay," Mr Gageby said.

There appeared to be no reason for the obsession of the accused.

"Even if you had Revenue difficulties or debts, why would that impel you to kill your son. You can understand the puzzlement of the gardaí," Mr Gageby told the jury.

The accused admitted he "had been thinking about it for a while".

A computer seized from his home revealed internet searches on Revenue, Revenue files, "and more alarmingly, ‘father kills child’ and ‘sentencing’," prosecution said.

"The explanation which was in Mr Carroll’s mind for this unusual act was a belief that if he killed his boy it would mean that the boy would not have to survive in great poverty," Mr Gageby said.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney.