A mentally-ill man accused of killing his father in a frenzied knife attack because he thought he was the devil was too deluded to stop himself, a court heard today.
Kevin Parker (45), who was convinced he was God's chosen avenger, was in the grip of unshakeable schizophrenic delusions when he allegedly stabbed his father repeatedly in the face and neck, two leading psychiatrists told a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Kevin Parker had previously told a workmate his father was the leader of a Satanic "coven of witches" and had told his doctor in 1999 he would have to kill his dad, who he believed was plotting to end the world, the court heard.
State pathologist Dr John Harbison told the court Kevin Parker's father, John, died from loss of blood from numerous stab wounds, including more than 20 to his face and neck. He also had several wounds on his hands where he had tried to protect himself from a knife attack, Dr Harbison said.
He said the wounds were consistent with being inflicted by someone in a "deranged or agitated state" because many were not aimed at vital organs.
Kevin Parker, of Montree House in Athlone, Co Westmeath has pleaded not guilty to the murder of John Parker (75) at Glasson Village near Athlone between September 28 and 29 in 2000.
The court heard after his arrest, Kevin Parker told gardai he had entered his father's house, grabbed a knife then walked up to him and stabbed him as he was watching a football match on television. He told gardai he had earlier got a message from the bible telling him to kill the devil or see a priest.
The jury heard Kevin Parker had been suffering from a mental illness, which was eventually diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia, since at least 1997 and had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals.
But he had refused to take his anti-psychotic medication for about six months before the killing because of its sexual side-effects. This allowed his Satanic and religious delusions involving his father and his former girlfriends to flourish and he had taken to living in the attic of his house, the jury heard.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Harry Kennedy told the court Kevin Parker's delusions were still present when he interviewed him not long after the killing, and he had told him: "I killed my father because he was the devil and it came upon me to do it."
Under questioning from defence counsel Martin Giblin SC, Dr Kennedy said: "Although he knew he was causing the death of his father, he believed he was also killing the devil.
"In his psychotic state he didn't believe he was doing wrong. He believed he was saving the world and doing a very good thing."
Dr Kennedy said it was common for such delusions to involve those closest to the sufferer and they often took on religious themes.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Helen O'Neill, who also prepared a report on Kevin Parker after the killing, said his judgement was seriously impaired by the delusions at the time of the attack. "I believe that Kevin Parker's delusions were such that he didn't fully know the nature or the quality of the act he was doing," Dr O'Neill told the court.
Sheila Duffy, a former girlfriend of Mr Parker's who attended prayer groups with him at a local Franciscan friary, told the court he cared for his father very much and that if his illness had been controlled he would never have killed him.
The trial, before Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins and a jury of seven women and five men, continues today (Fri.).