Courts

‘Brutal’ machete attack on elderly man carried out with ‘lethal intention’, jury told

Patrick McDonagh (52), of Whitechapel Road, Clonsilla is charged with murdering his next-door neighbour Peter McDonald (73)

Patrick McDonagh (52), with an address at Whitechapel Road, Clonsilla, Dublin 15 has pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter of Peter McDonald (73) on July 25th, 2020. The State has not accepted his plea and he is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.

Eoin Reynolds
Tue Feb 6 2024 - 20:10

A “brutal” machete attack on an elderly man was carried out with “lethal intention” and should result in a murder conviction for the accused man, a prosecution barrister has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court.

Philipp Rahn SC delivered his closing speech on Tuesday in the trial of Patrick McDonagh, who admits killing but denies murdering his neighbour Peter McDonald. Mr Rahn described a number of slash, chop and stab wounds inflicted with a machete and knife which, he said, proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury.

John Fitzgerald SC, for Mr McDonagh, said the evidence of a psychiatrist and from Mr McDonagh’s “bizarre and erratic” behaviour showed that his client was suffering from schizophrenia at the time. He said the proper verdict is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter as Mr McDonagh’s responsibility for the killing was substantially diminished by his mental disorder.

Patrick McDonagh (52), with an address at Whitechapel Road, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, is charged with murdering his next-door neighbour Peter McDonald (73) on Whitechapel Road on July 25th, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The State has not accepted his plea and he is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.

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Mr Rahn told the jury that the evidence clearly showed that something had made Mr McDonagh “very angry that night and it appeared that anger was directed at Peter McDonald.”

Counsel asked the jury to consider the nature and extent of the injuries described by State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan. She told the jury that Mr McDonald died following a “sustained and violent attack” in which he suffered multiple traumatic injuries including slash, chop and stab wounds most likely from a machete.

Mr Rahn said the most serious injuries were to Mr McDonald’s neck and included a stab wound within a slash wound. Counsel said this wound “puts to rest” any doubt the jury may have had that Mr McDonagh intended to kill or cause serious injury to the deceased. He added: “That is not suggestive of a frenzied type of attack or an attack due to intoxication; that is clear proof beyond any reasonable doubt of a lethal intention.”

Mr Rahn described it as a “prolonged and sustained” attack which began inside Mr McDonald’s home and continued on to the path outside where he died.

He reminded the jury of the evidence of neighbours, including one who said he heard Mr McDonagh threaten Mr McDonald two hours before the fatal attack by saying: “I’m going to kill you.”

Mr Rahn asked: “Does that suggest a mindless, random, frenzied attack in the throes of a mental disorder?”

Mr Rahn also suggested that following the killing Mr McDonagh had the “wherewithal” to change his bloody clothes and put them in the washing machine, although he did not switch it on.

He further asked the jury to consider that Mr McDonald called gardaí following an earlier encounter with Mr McDonagh that night. Within minutes of gardaí leaving his home, neighbours reported hearing Mr McDonald screaming and crying out for help.

“Perhaps it is a coincidence that the garda van leaves and within a very short period the fatal act occurs,” he said to the jury. “These are matters for you.”

Mr Rahn also pointed to the evidence of neighbours who said Mr McDonagh “sauntered” or walked slowly, with no sign of panic back to his own home after the attack.

Mr Rahn said the evidence of consultant psychiatrist Dr Mary Davoren, who was called by the prosecution, was that the hallucinations Mr McDonagh described to her during interviews after the killing were “strongly associated with malingering and not what you would expect to find in someone with schizophrenia”. Dr Davoren told the jury that she concurred with the findings of a community psychiatric team in Blanchardstown in the early to mid 2010s that Mr McDonagh’s behaviour was better explained by substance misuse than by schizophrenia.

Counsel said the evidence shows that Mr McDonagh killed Mr McDonald in a “violent, sustained and merciless attack ... leaving him no chance.” “He is not only responsible for killing Mr McDonald but for his murder and a true verdict on the evidence is one of murder,” he concluded.

Mr Fitzgerald, defending, said his client has a lengthy psychiatric history with multiple diagnoses of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Over the years he had made “rather outrageous claims” such as that he was responsible for the attacks on the twin towers in New York or for the death of Princess Diana.

His “erratic and bizarre” behaviour was witnessed by his neighbours who described him as “crazy”, “not right in the head” and said there was “something not right about him”. They described him repeatedly blessing himself at a bush, spraying holy water around his garden, and kneeling and blessing himself at a statue in a neighbour’s garden.

There was further evidence, counsel said, that Mr McDonagh’s condition deteriorated further in the lead-up to the killing. In particular, his carer Aaron Murtagh Casey told the trial that Mr McDonagh had suffered a deterioration during Covid lockdown while one neighbour reported that the accused’s behaviour at that time was “odd even by his standards”.

In the hours leading up to the attack, Mr Fitzgerald said there was evidence that Mr McDonagh was “raging against the world”. “He was drawing attention to himself all night in front of his neighbours, roaring and shouting, blessing himself, banging a machete off the wall.”

When armed gardaí spent several hours trying to convince him to leave his house, Mr McDonagh was described by one garda as being in a “very emotionally distressed state”, sweating, rocking back and forth while praying and mumbling before a religious picture in his kitchen.

Gardaí did not get the impression that his behaviour was “feigned or put on”, counsel said.

Mr Fitzgerald reminded the jury of the evidence of Professor Patricia Casey who said that Mr McDonagh was suffering from schizophrenia at the time and that his responsibility for his actions was therefore substantially reduced.

Mr Justice Michael MacGrath will deliver his charge to the jury of nine men and three women on Wednesday.

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