A Kilkenny psychiatrist who drowned her daughter in the bath should not be held responsible for the killing because she was suffering from a major depressive disorder which led her to think she was helping her daughter escape a hopeless life ruled by anorexia nervosa, a court has heard.
The jury of nine women and three men hearing the trial of Lynn Gibbs (47), who is charged with the murder of her daughter Ciara (16) between 11pm on November 25th, 2006 and 10am the next day is expected to retire this morning to consider its verdict in the case.
The psychiatrist from Killure in Gowran, Co Kilkenny, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her daughter but admits her killing.
The jury is being urged by both prosecution and defence to return a verdict of not guilty by insanity.
The details of the lead-up to Ciara's murder and Dr Gibbs's family and mental history were put before the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday, with consultant psychiatrists in agreement she should be kept in secure psychiatric care and not be held responsible for Ciara's killing.
Dr Gibbs's mother, Iris Hutchinson, had suffered episodes of depression and took her own life when she was 49; her father died of lung cancer; and Dr Gibbs had made an attempt on her own life by taking an overdose when she was 20 after suffering a depressive episode while in second year at Trinity College, the court heard.
Dr Gibbs had also suffered her own obsession with body image at 17 and had worked with anorexic and bulimic patients at St Vincent's hospital in the past.
In emotional evidence, Ciara's father, Gerard Gibbs, told the court how he and his wife were trying to get their daughter help for her undiagnosed eating disorder at the time Dr Gibbs killed her.
The slight girl with blue-grey eyes and dark blonde hair was a straight-A student in Junior Certificate but was displaying signs of an eating disorder and resented being sent to doctors for help, telling her mother "I hate you" during one argument, Mr Gibbs said.
In hindsight, the discovery of Ciara's eating problems had resulted in a massive change in his wife, he told the court.
Dr Gibbs had also lost nearly a stone.
He last saw them on the morning of November 25th, 2006, when his wife and Ciara left for Dublin where Ciara was attending a lecture at UCD for students who had excelled in maths.
Dr Gibbs said he went with his 14-year-old son, Gearóid, to Ballypatrick, Co Tipperary, to stay with his mother, as they often did.
He broke down as he said Ciara called and texted him that afternoon, about buying her mother a coat for Christmas.
Dr Gibbs was receiving -treatment for her depression and Dr Marese Cheasty visited Dr Gibbs at home that night, leaving at about 11pm.
Mr Gibbs and his son returned at 9.38 the following morning to find the front gates to the home locked.
Once inside, he said, he walked into the upstairs bedroom and found his daughter lying motionless on the en-suite bathroom floor.
The bath was full of water and a bloody meat-cleaver was on the floor.
He picked up her cold, wet body and put her on the bed before noticing his wife was lying with blood on her on the floor by the chest of drawers.
He picked her up too and put her on the bed beside her daughter, slapping both their faces to try to revive them.
His wife, whom he had been with since she was 18, and daughter had had an excellent relationship, he said.
"She loved Ciara," he said, choking back tears.
Brendan Grehan SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, asked Mr Gibbs if there had been any advance sign of the tragedy that unfolded.
"No," the witness replied.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, who concluded Ciara had drowned, said blood around Ciara's mouth and nose were likely to have been caused by her father's desperate attempts to revive her.
Ciara's only injuries were bruising to the back of her head, neck and shoulders, consistent with her head having been held under the water.
Mr Justice Paul Carney told the jury the law required them to hear the case even though psychiatric experts for the defence and prosecution were in agreement.
The jury had to hear expert evidence from consultant psychiatrists that Dr Gibbs's mental state was such that she should not be held responsible for the killing.
Mr Grehan said the evidence had to show Dr Gibbs did not know the nature or quality of the act, did not know what she was doing was wrong, or was unable to refrain from committing the act to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Mr Grehan said there was a convergence of opinion that Dr Gibbs was suffering from a mental disorder.
"The psychiatric evidence you will hear in this case is all one way," he said, "pointing to a verdict of not guilty by insanity.
"Effectively Lynn Gibbs had decided in the state of hopelessness that it was best for her and her daughter to die," Mr Grehan told the jury.