A young man accused of murdering his mother told gardaí he grabbed her in a headlock and snapped her neck, and knowing she was dead, he strangled her again.
Mr Damien Donnan, had gone into his mother's bedroom on the night of the killing looking for a cigarette, the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday. His mother, Mrs Jennifer Donnan, woke up and asked him what he was doing.
"She kept saying she was getting my father," the accused allegedly said in a Garda statement made on April 17th, 2000, the morning of the killing. He said his mother tried to whack him with a handbag but he caught her hand and she fell back.
He then described how he killed her, the court was told.
The accused said he then went out into the hallway because he was "cracking".
He returned to his mother's bedroom and spoke to the limp body lying on the floor, saying: "Look what you made me do." The accused said he "strangled her again for a few minutes because I was angry", the court was told.
Mr Damien Donnan (20), of De Valera Park, Thomondgate, Limerick, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mrs Jennifer Donnan (42) at the family home on April 17th, 2000.
The court has heard that the accused has received psychiatric care and had been prescribed anti-depressants.
The court also heard that the relationship between mother and son was fractious since the break up of the marriage between Mrs Donnan and her husband, Daniel. The trial continues today.