A man who bludgeoned his grandfather to death outside his home in Donegal has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court accepted the evidence of two psychiatrists that 39-year-old Derek Mulligan was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he killed his grandfather.
Evidence had been given that Mulligan, who as a child suffered serious sexual abuse at the hands of school caretaker Michael Ferry, told professionals that the paedophile’s release from prison had caused him to “spiral”.
The trial heard that Ferry was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he was convicted of sexual offending against several boys, including the defendant.
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Mulligan (39), with an address at Carrickcoyle, Derrybeg, Gweedore in Co Donegal, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his grandfather Derek Burns (78) at Carrickcoyle on December 19th, 2023.
Dr Ronan Mullaney, for the defence, had told the jury that Mulligan was suffering from the mental disorder of paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
Dr Stephen Monks, called by the prosecution, said by reason of this mental disorder, the defendant did not know the nature and quality of what he was doing, did not know what he was doing was wrong and was unable to refrain from committing the act.
The jury of seven men and five women spent two hours and 22 minutes deliberating on Friday before bringing in majority verdicts on all five counts of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Earlier, the panel handed a note to the trial judge asking how much cannabis was in the defendant’s system at the time of his arrest.
The trial had heard evidence that Mulligan has a history of substance abuse and at one point was smoking up to €50 worth of cannabis daily. In reply, Justice Eileen Creedon said the two psychiatrists were aware of cannabis being in Mulligan’s system and had taken this into account.
Prosecution counsel Patricia McLaughlin SC said there was a bed available immediately for Mulligan at the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) in Portrane.
Creedon then made an order committing Mulligan to the CMH on Friday, with his return before the court scheduled for March 31st next.
Mulligan was also found not guilty by reason of insanity that on December 17th, 2023, at Carrickcoyle, he did without lawful excuse damage property, to wit the windscreen of a Nissan Quashqui belonging to Catherine McDermott, intending to damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be damaged.
The defendant was further found not guilty by reason of insanity that on the same occasion he did without lawful excuse make threats to McDermott to kill or cause her serious harm..
In addition, Mulligan was found not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of assaulting Breege McFadden and Derek McFadden at Carrickmacafferty, Derrybeg in Co Donegal, on the same date.
The five-day trial heard that Mulligan, who is originally from Bunbeg in Co Donegal, had suffered from a litany of mental health difficulties since his teenage years and had experienced a number of traumas in his life.
The deceased Burns was from Scotland and his wife Mary was from Donegal.
Mulligan is a native Irish speaker and his father died in 2003, when the defendant was 16 years of age. His mother Angela had sourced a house for her son near to his grandfather and Mulligan had been residing there for several months.
One of Burns’s daughters Kathleen went to visit her father at 3.30pm on December 17th and found her father on the ground unconscious and bloodied. She initially thought he had fallen and had a stroke.
When Burns was brought to Letterkenny Hospital, medical personnel believed Burns’ injuries were consistent with an assault. There was extensive damage to the left side of the head, the left ear was “practically gone” and multiple bleeds were found on the brain. Burns died from his injuries two days later on December 19th.
In his interviews, Mulligan told gardaí he had gone to his grandfather’s to be somewhere safe, as he was sitting in his own house when “black spiders” started to appear on the roof.
He said he had “kinda lost it” and was “battering and battering and battering” his grandfather.
In his closing speech, Michael Bowman SC with Simon Gillespie BL said what “comes out loud and clear” from the evidence is that Burns was a good, decent, honourable and compassionate man, whose life was taken in circumstances he could never have comprehended or anticipated.
The lawyer said Mulligan viewed his grandfather as his father and it was a relationship of close affection, mutual respect and love.
Quite often in these cases, Bowman said it is those who are held nearest and dearest to those with a mental illness that pay the ultimate price.
