Christina Anderson appeals severity of jail sentence over fatal stabbing of stranger

Anderson was sentenced to eight years in prison for the manslaughter of Gareth Kelly as he tried to start his car near her home on February 25, 2020

Christina Anderson was undergoing a psychotic episode when she stabbed 38-year-old Mr Kelly, court heard.

A woman who stabbed a stranger to death as he tried to start his car near her Dublin home has appealed the severity of her sentence for his manslaughter.

Christina Anderson, of Brownsbarn Wood, Kingswood, Dublin 24, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the manslaughter of Gareth Kelly. 

She will also be required to work with probation services and engage with psychiatric treatment for four years after her release — or she will face a further three years in custody.

Anderson has now appealed the severity of her sentence. No date has yet been set for the appeal.

The court heard she was undergoing a psychotic episode when she stabbed 38-year-old Mr Kelly as he tried to start his car near her home on February 25, 2020.

At the time of her trial, she had been a patient at the Central Mental Hospital since shortly after her arrest in February 2020.

She was subsequently charged with his murder and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility due to a mental disorder a month into her trial earlier this year.

Ms Justice Karen O'Connor said the offence fell into the most serious category but for the fact that Anderson's responsibility was diminished by her mental condition.

She described the incident as a "fatal attack of a ferocious nature" on a defenceless man who she did not know.

She said Anderson's behaviour was "highly dominated by her mental condition".

Anderson’s senior counsel, Michael O’Higgins, told the sentencing hearing she was suffering delusions brought on by bipolar-affective disorder.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright diagnosed Anderson with bipolar affective disorder and said she had falsely believed Mr Kelly was a threat to her and her family.