Knife attack man committed to the Central Mental Hospital

A Dublin man who broke into his neighbour’s home and attacked the family living there with a knife has been found not guilty by reason of insanity at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Desmond Hogan ordered that Mark Larkin (aged 37) be committed to the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum until further order after a jury of six men and six women returned the special verdict following just more than half an hour of deliberation.

Mr Larkin, a bricklayer, formerly of Ashlawn Park, Ballybrack, pleaded "not guilty by reason of insanity" to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Keith Kelly at his home on January 18, 2008. He has also denied assault causing harm to Julie, Peter and Wayne Kelly and production of a knife.

The jury heard medical evidence from Dr Conor O’Neill, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, who said that Mr Larkin suffered from paranoid schizophrenia which was the most serious form of mental disorder.

Mr Larkin had "a paranoid delusional belief" that his neighbours were acting against him. The jury heard that there was a long history of mental illness in Mr Larkin’s family, including schizophrenia.

The accused told gardaí that he had smoked cannabis on the night before the attack and for 20 years previously. Dr O’Neill told the court that such a history of substance abuse could trigger "psychotic episodes" but it was not the sole reason for his actions in this matter.

Mr Larkin broke into his next door neighbour’s house around 5.30am and stabbed him after alleging his family had stolen €3,500 from him. He then forced his way into a bedroom wielding a knife. He confronted a mother and her children and demand the return of his belongings.

Larkin had broken into the house after throwing a garden bench through the window and also stabbed three other people who came to help the stricken family after her son raised the alarm.

Cormac Quinn BL, prosecuting, told the jury there was "no disagreement" between the prosecution and the defence on the facts of the case and that doctors for both sides were agreed Larkin had a mental problem at the time he committed the offences.

Keith Kelly was stabbed in the chest and suffered a punctured lung when he grappled with Mr Larkin on the stairs to stop him getting to his wife and three children. Mr Kelly also had to have plastic surgery as a result of being stabbed in the face.

The morning before the attack Mr Larkin had entered the Kelly house shouting that he could hear Mr Kelly and his wife through the wall planning to break into Mr Larkin’s home. Mr Kelly said he called the gardaí.

Later that day Mr Larkin again appeared outside the Kelly house shouting that he wanted his "stuff". Mr Kelly said that at about 5.30am the following morning he heard two loud bangs and knew it was Mr Larkin who had rammed a bench through a window to gain entrance.

He ran down the stairs and was confronted by Mr Larkin wielding a knife. While grappling with him he was stabbed in the chest, shoulder and face.

Mr Kelly told defence counsel, Mr Remy Farrell BL (with Mr Conor Devally SC), that he had asked Larkin’s parents twice to see about getting him treatment "but they didn’t want to know".

Karen Kelly said her children were "screaming with terror" when confronted by Larkin with a knife after he stabbed her husband and forced his way into their bedroom. Her eldest son managed to leave the room and raise the alarm.

Professor Patricia Casey, professor of psychiatry at UCD, said that due to Larkin’s state of "psychiatric turmoil" at the time he believed he was "acting in self-defence because he was being tortured by other people" and he would not have been able to distinguish that what he was doing was wrong or to refrain from doing it.