Saverio Bellante found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity

A man who killed his landlord and dismembered his body has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

Saverio Bellante (36) admitted killing his friend Tom O’Gorman (39) at the house they were living in as landlord and tenant in Castleknock, west Dublin, in January 2014.

He had been diagnosed with psychosis in 2005 and remained on medication for almost 10 years, continuing his treatment in a Dublin city facility when he came from his native Italy to live in Ireland.

His medication was stopped under the direction of a psychiatrist in Dublin two days before he killed Mr O’Gorman and cut out his right lung.

He thought the organ, which was found in a plastic bag in the kitchen of the house at Beechpark Avenue, was Mr O’Gorman’s heart.

He said after the killing he planned to cook it and eat it.

Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan told the jury at the Central Criminal Court while they must decide if Bellante was insane, “all the evidence in the case points one way”.

She added if the jury decided Bellante was guilty of murder, rather than not guilty by reason of insanity, they would be “rejecting” the evidence of two psychiatrists who gave evidence at the two-day trial.

Both said the Italian national - who has been in custody at the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, south Dublin, since the killing - met the criteria for the insanity verdict.

Ms Justice Heneghan said under Irish legislation a jury “shall” return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity if psychiatrist witnesses gave evidence to that effect.

Members of Mr O’Gorman’s family were in court for the verdict.