Kerry man who killed mother with hatchet found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity

The trial heard that Mr Dunne told gardaí in interviews that he "lost it" over a disagreement about the purchase of an iPhone Ms Dunne believed to be too expensive

After the jury returned the special verdict on Friday, Ms Justice Ring remanded Patrick Dunne (pictured, left) to the Central Mental Hospital. File picture: Eamonn Keogh

A man with autism who bludgeoned his mother to death with a hatchet after an argument over an iPhone has been found not guilty of her murder by reason of insanity.

At the Central Criminal Court on Friday morning, a jury of seven women and five men returned the special verdict to Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring at 11.10am after deliberating for three-and-a-half hours in the case of Patrick Dunne, who had pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother Susan Dunne in Kerry in 2013.