Accused 'may have been misdiagnosed', court hears

Diagnosing the 21 year-old apprentice butcher accused of murdering his sister as suffering from a mental disorder was an attempt to "clutch at straws", the director of the Central Hospital said today.

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Harry Kennedy told a jury in the Central Criminal Court that the defence psychiatrists’ diagnoses of depersonalisation disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy was an attempt to find an explanation in this "tragic case".

"Part of the tragic event is - one searches for meaning- even if that means clutching at straws," he said.

"All of us would like to have an explanation for this. Unfortunately. I can’t find evidence of it."

Dr Kennedy was giving evidence in the trial of Patrick O'Dwyer, of Shrohill, Ennistymon, Co Clare who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 17 year-old sister Marguerite at the family home on November 29, 2004.

Dr Kennedy told prosecuting counsel, Mr John Edwards SC, that he believed the accused suffered from a "severe alcohol problem", and that on the day of the killing, the accused was overcome with"profound feelings of shame and embarrassment" following an extremely drunken episode which "the whole town" knew about.

He said he accepted the accused’s account that he picked up the hammer with the intention of killing himself and that he only thought of killing his sister because he was afraid she would stop him.

"I have to say, it’s not unusual to find somebody in this situation," he said.

"If there’s a straightforward answer for something, don’t try to make it more difficult."

He described the accused as a "fit young man with good self-care" with whom he had a "good rapport" during interview.

He said he could not find any evidence of a depersonalisation disorder or temporal lobe epilepsy diagnosed by his colleagues.

He described depersonalisation disorder as a "weak" diagnosis because its definition varied within editions of psychiatric classification manuals and its symptoms "are symptoms which normal people have".

"He knew where he was and what he was doing," he said.

He described the video-like state experienced by the accused at the time of the killing as a "poetic metaphor" and not a clinical symptom.

He also denied "interesting and suspicious" spikes in his brainwave pattern were evidence he suffered from epilepsy.

He said many "normal" would display similar patterns if they were given a brainwave scan and that his behaviour would need to have changed for the spikes to hold any significance.

He also said that even if he was wrong and the accused did suffer from the depersonalisation disorder, he still did not see how it could be connected to the killing.

He said he believed the "flatness" and "numbness" noted by authorities who came into contact with the accused immediately after the killing was a consequence of grief and shock over the loss of his sister and what he had done, and that it was not evidence of a depersonalisation disorder.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, Mr Kennedy insisted the accused was in the "fullness of his mind" at the time of the killing.

"Many people do things that are poorly thought out and that they might not do a second time," he said.

"And they do them in the fullness of mind."

He rejected as significant evidence given by the accused’s family who said Mr O’Dywer often drifted off mid-sentence and became entranced while watching Aertel.

He further rejected evidence of sensory anaesthesia given by the family who said he never cried when hurt as a child.

He said this could be a case of "little boys being brave."

Asked whether two incidences of the accused collapsing and his eyes rolling around his head were evidence of epilepsy, he said these events would need to have been supported by other symptoms at the time.

However he admitted: "I couldn’t say that epilepsy was impossible but I would say that it’s improbable."

Defence consultant psychiatrist Dr Paul O’Connell told the court that research into depersonalisation disorder only began recently and that it was therefore under-recognised.

The trial before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of six women and six men continues tomorrow.