A 47-year-old man will be sentenced next week for attempting to murder his elderly mother while keeping vigil by her death bed in a nursing home in Co Waterford. Mr Justice Paul Carney said that this was the first time he had encountered anything of this nature in 50 years in the courts and he would adjourn sentencing until next week.
Veronica (Vera) Vollrath (83) was pronounced dead on January 9th, 2012 at Killure Bridge Nursing Home, Killure, Co Waterford. She had been ill and was expected to die.
However, her son, Gerald Vollrath, was charged with her murder, after he admitted holding a pillow over her face.
Mr Vollrath of Tramore Heights, Tramore, pleaded not guilty to her murder, but the murder charge against him was dropped in December, and the Austrian resident pleaded guilty to attempted murder instead.
Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that this was because pathological exams had found no sign of suffocation. "It cannot be said with absolute certainty that she may not have already been dead," he said.
Called home
Sgt Fergal O'Toole told the hearing that Ms Vollrath had moved into the nursing home in May 2010. She suffered a severe stroke in 2011 and had Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart and kidney problems.
Mr Vollrath and his brother were called home to Ireland in January 2012 because their mother was in danger of dying. The accused arrived on January 7th and it was decided that family members would keep a vigil by her side during her final hours. He kept vigil that night, leaving in the morning. That evening he had a number of drinks with his friend in a pub, where he spoke about his mother not wishing to be an inconvenience. He took over the vigil from another family member again that night, January 8th.
During the night, he put a pillow over his mother’s face and held it there for up to two minutes, said Sgt O’Toole. It was 1.10am on January 9th when he called a member of staff, who found no sign of life.
Family members gathered at the nursing home before returning to their mother’s house, where Mr Vollrath told his niece what he had done. He then got a taxi to Dublin.
Gardaí were called and located the accused on his way to Dublin Airport.
Helpless
He told gardaí he did what he had done as his mother previously indicated that she would not like to be helpless in the situation in which she was.
Sgt O’Toole described Mr Vollrath as a family man, who had worked abroad all his working life. He was living with his wife and daughter in Austria, where he worked as a sheet fabricator for an airline.
He said he had a good relationship with his family and had visited his mother three or four times a year.
He agreed with Isobel Kennedy SC, defending, that Ms Vollrath was in an exceedingly frail state. “She was receiving end-of-life care,” he said.
He agreed that all medication had been withdrawn, she was unresponsive and had received no fluid or food for more than a week. Hope of recovery had been given up and her death was deemed imminent. He also agreed that Mr Vollrath had been crying during Garda interviews and that his primary concern was for his mother’s comfort.
He agreed that the accused had been terribly distressed at his mother’s condition. All that could be done for her was turning to prevent sores and the application of lip balm, which Mr Vollrath did.
The sergeant also agreed that Mr Vollrath had said he had gone to the airport as he didn’t want to shame his family by attending the funeral.