A man accused of murder was possibly involved in the buying and selling of guns, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday. A psychiatrist, Dr Mary Clarke Finnegan, based at Tralee General Hospital, said the accused was not mentally ill and gave examples of his capabilities to the court.
"Mr O'Brien is able to lead a gang in the town, able to organise crime, to register for the dole, to collect it, able to wheel and deal chainsaws and possibly guns," the doctor told the court.
Mr Michael O'Brien (27), single and unemployed, of Gallowsfield, Tralee, Co Kerry, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of James Healy (16), of Shanakill, Tralee, Co Kerry, at Monavalley Industrial Estate, Tralee, on or about February 22nd, 1997.
A senior clinical psychologist, Dr Colm Downing, who had assessed Mr O'Brien using eight verbal tests, told the court the accused was "borderline" within the normal intelligence range and that that was possibly an artificially low diagnosis.
There was "no mental retardation" in his diagnosis, Dr Downing said. "There is no question about that."
The psychologist told the court that although Mr O'Brien had limited education the accused was better at "abstract reasoning".
The abstract reasoning test required the accused to select similarities between 20 items, given in an increasingly difficult sequence.
Dr Downing said Mr O'Brien did very well in these tests and, quoting another academic, he said intellect had to do with abstract reasoning and not educational knowledge.
Mr O'Brien did poorly in tests that questioned his general knowledge, the psychologist said, but that general knowledge had more to do with exposure to education, and little to do with intellect.
Abstract reasoning was to do with intellect, he said. In this regard, Mr O'Brien did very well in the tests, leading the psychologist to conclude the accused was not mentally retarded.
Mr O'Brien and the deceased were allegedly associates who drank cider together occasionally at different places in Tralee town.
After having been missing for three days, Mr Healy's body was found on waste ground near a factory off the Monavalley Road in Tralee, Co Kerry.
The trial before Mr Justice Kinlen and a jury of eight women and four men continues today.