A 33-year-old man charged with the murder of an elderly man in a Cork hospital accused the pensioner of eating his son as he punched him repeatedly in the head, a court has heard.
Dylan Magee of Churchfield Green, Churchfield, Cork denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Matthew Healy (88) when he was arraigned before a jury of eight men and four women at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on Tuesday.
Det Garda Michelle Quinn told the court how Mr Healy, whose wife had died just ten days earlier, was admitted to the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in Cork at 2.58am on the morning of January 13th 2023 after he fell and passed out in the bedroom of his house in Berrings in Mid-Cork.
She said that Mr Magee, who did not know Mr Healy, was admitted to MUH on January 19th 2023 after being referred by his GP. Mr Magee told staff that he had taken 60 Xanax after buying them online and blood tests showed he tested positive for a chemical found in cannabis.
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Det Garda Quinn said that Mr Magee appeared to be hallucinating. The medical consultant on call, Dr Rachel Cole prescribed sedation, and he was assigned a special care assistant.
She said that consultant psychiatrist, Dr James Kinahan evaluated Mr Magee at 8.15am on January 20th and concluded that he had experienced delirium as a result of an accidental illicit drug overdose but in Dr Kinahan’s opinion, there was “no evidence of severe mental illness.”
Det Garda Quinn said that Mr Magee underwent several psychiatric assessments while in the MUH Emergency Department and at 4pm on January 22nd, he was admitted to St Joseph’s Ward with a special care assistant, Sanju Joseph assigned to look after him in the six bed room.
Mr Magee was assigned a bed by the window on the left while Mr Healy was in a bed beside the window on the right and all six patients in the room were under the care of Nurse Dijo Augustine, a male nurse for the night while Mr Magee was also being looked after by care assistant Joseph.
Det Garda Quinn said that over the course of the night, nurse Augustine and care assistant Joseph had to twice contact medical intern, Dr Amajaed Abusaidi who came and gave Mr Magee two sedative injections to calm him after he started getting out of bed and talking to himself.
She said that at around 5.10am, nurse Augustine noticed Mr Magee near a locker at another patient’s bed, asking if the patient had a blade.
At 5.15am, care assistant Joseph was outside the entrance of the room when he heard steps and punches and turned around to see Mr Magee repeatedly punching Mr Healy four to six times in the head. He called on him to stop before calling for help.
Nurse Augustine ran in to help but Mr Magee punched Mr Healy three times more times.
“Care assistant Joseph went out to call for help but when he left the room Dylan Magee went towards Matthew Healy’s bed again and started Matthew Healy into the left side of his eyes and nose – Matthew Healy said nothing, his whole face was full of blood,” said Det Garda Quinn.
“Nurse Augustine caught Dylan Magee by the T-shirt and was trying to pull him back with both hands, breaking his finger in the process – he shouted at Dylan, ‘Don’t do that’ to try to get him to stop and Dylan Magee then said, ‘This man ate my son.’”
Two other nurses came to assist, and they rang reception where Bart Grabowski triggered a security alert and several doctors raced to the room and worked on Mr Healy, including performing CPR for 30 minutes. He was pronounced dead at 5.58am.
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The jury was earlier told it would hear evidence from Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster to the effect that Mr Healy suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of injuries he sustained.
Prosecution senior counsel Jane Hyland said the psychiatrists engaged by the prosecution and the defence agreed that by the time Mr Magee attacked Mr Healy any substances he took before admission were eliminated from his system.
She told the jury the defence psychiatrist was of the view that Mr Magee was suffering from delirium and was “disoriented and deluded” and that “impaired his capacity to inform a criminal intent”.
The case continues.
