A Kerry man who strangled his mother while suffering a manic or hypomanic episode related to bipolar disorder still understood what he was doing and is guilty of her murder, the State is to argue before a trial jury.
Sean Guerin SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions in his opening speech on Wednesday said there is no dispute Billy Burns (55) of Arlington Lodge, Tralee, was suffering from a mental illness when he assaulted his mother Miriam Burns.
Counsel told the jury they will be satisfied that Mr Burns committed the acts that led to his mother’s death. The issue for them to decide is the consequence of psychiatric illness on Mr Burns’s mental state at the time of the killing.
The trial heard that before her death, the deceased texted her daughter saying the accused had called to her home in a “psychotic” state and was in need of help.
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In 28 admissions made by the accused, Anthony Sammon SC for Mr Burns, said his client further accepts his mother phoned a garda to say the accused had returned home and his mental health had deteriorated.
Mr Burns (55) is charged with murdering Burns (75), on a date unknown between August 12th and 15th, 2022, both dates inclusive, at an address in Ardshanavooley, Killarney.
Mr Burns has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Mr Guerin told the jury that Burns was the mother of four adult children and lived alone at Ardshanavooley. Two days before her death Mr Burns returned to Killarney having spent time away.
He did not have a place to stay and lived rough in the Ross Castle area. At lunchtime on August 12th, he called to his mother’s home but the visit “ended badly”, Mr Guerin said.
A witness will tell the trial he saw the accused slamming his mother’s front door and shouting: “You f*****g c**t.” Mr Burns returned to the house at about 10pm and remained there until the following morning.
Mr Guerin said the prosecution’s case is that Mr Burns killed his mother some time between 10pm on August 12th and the early hours of August 13th. He said the jury will hear Burns died from asphyxia by manual strangulation and suffered blunt force trauma to the head.
Mr Burns was seen leaving his mother’s home that morning and returning at about 7.30pm. He left again on a bike with a rucksack , Mr Guerin said.That night, he attempted to destroy items he had taken from his mother’s house by starting fires at different locations around Ross Castle, Mr Guerin said.
“The prosecution says these were deliberate attempts to destroy evidence related to the killing of his mother,” Mr Guerin said.
Mr Guerin told the jury the accused accepts he committed the acts that resulted in his mother’s death, but says he was seriously psychiatrically ill at the time.
A psychiatrist who will be called by the defence will say that due to Mr Burns’s mental illness, he was unable to refrain from killing his mother.
The prosecution will call another psychiatrist who agrees Mr Burns was suffering from a manic or hypomanic episode, but will say he understood the nature of his actions.
The trial continues.
