Court told alleged killer a 'paranoid schizophrenic'

A MAN accused of killing his uncle in a "frenzied" axe attack was a "textbook paranoid schizophrenic", a jury at the Central …

A MAN accused of killing his uncle in a "frenzied" axe attack was a "textbook paranoid schizophrenic", a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Henry McLaren (34), Edenmore Drive, Raheny, Dublin, denies murdering Thomas Dempsey at Edenmore Drive on February 10th, 2007.

Dr Brian McCaffrey, a consultant psychiatrist told Erwin Mill Arden SC, defending, that he had been to see Mr McLaren on several occasions at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, after his uncle's death.

He said that Mr McLaren was undoubtedly suffering from the illness when he attacked his uncle. "I don't have any doubt that on the day his uncle was killed Henry McLaren was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and his actions were driven by the illness."

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Prof Marie Cassidy told prosecuting counsel Patrick Gageby SC that Mr Dempsey died from massive head injuries and had been struck at least 20 times with an axe, causing a large hole in the left side of his skull and severely damaging his brain.

She said that, at postmortem, Mr Dempsey's brain was only half the normal size and he also had injuries to the right side of his head, caused by the axe blows forcing his head against the hard floor.

Prof Cassidy said Mr Dempsey had no defence injuries suggesting he had been taken by surprise or quickly overcome. She said that the amount of force used was definite "overkill" and the attack could be described as "frenzied".

Det Garda Liam O'Sullivan told Mr Gageby that Mr McLaren had insisted he be called Red and refused to sign his statements with his real name. He told gardaí Jimi Hendrix had told him to kill his uncle. "He said he was the devil. I am a man and Jimi is a woman. We are a couple."

Mr McLaren said he knew white people were the devil from watching television and it was his job to look after the coal in the house because coal was black. "Everyone knows God is black."

He said his uncle, with whom he lived since his parents had got a barring order against him, was a paedophile. "Tommy used to have his hands on Ireland. He was the devil. He put briquettes on the fire. The game shouldn't be played like that. It's sick." When asked what game he was referring to, he told gardaí he meant golf.

Det Garda O'Sullivan said that there was no indication Mr Dempsey had ever done anything to harm children.

Dr McCaffrey said Mr McLaren had several long-running delusions, some of which he continued to hold today. He thought his father was the leader of a paedophile ring and he himself was a champion golfer for whom the Central Mental Hospital was going to build a golf course.

He insisted on being called Red because of an affinity with Native American. He thought that Sinn Féin had massacred the Indians in the 19th century.

Dr McCaffrey said Mr McLaren continued to be concerned about Sinn Féin, which he thought was a danger to him. He thought that the gardaí were Sinn Féin although there were none in court.

Mr McLaren told him that at the time of the killing he thought he was black and was convinced he was doing the right thing. He thought that Jack Dempsey, a boxer, was talking through Mr Dempsey's mouth, telling him to kill him.

Dr McCaffrey said that Mr McLaren had committed the killing in a kind of fantasy. "He wasn't aware of the screaming or shouting. He was in a dream world away on his own, totally away from reality."

He said that in more than 30 years of examining people accused of murder, he had seen several people with paranoid schizophrenia and their attacks were "more than gruesome". "I have seen this before with someone who had schizophrenia but I have never seen it before in someone who didn't have schizophrenia."

The trial continues today