Lawyers for an Irishman accused of stabbing his best friend to death in Panama entered a plea of not guilty on Monday on the grounds he was mentally ill when he carried out the attack two years ago.
Mr Peter Byrne (35), from Cork, has been held in a psychiatric hospital since he stabbed his childhood friend, Mr Max Conroy, to death at Mr Conroy's Panama City apartment in July 1999. Mr Byrne stood with his head bowed as the Supreme Court magistrate read out murder charges, detailing how Mr Conroy died after being stabbed 16 times.
Mr Byrne, an engineering lecturer, flew to Panama to visit Mr Conroy two days before the killing after attending a conference in the US. The two had been friends for more than 20 years.
Mr Byrne admitted the killing in testimony read to the court, saying he feared Mr Conroy intended to feed him to an alligator or throw him from a balcony in Mr Conroy's apartment.
Mr Edna Ramos, who is defending Mr Byrne, said if the court found him innocent he would be "returned to Ireland completely free". He said a panel of nine psychiatrists who examined Mr Byrne determined he was suffering from "acute paranoid psychosis at the time of the killing". He will argue in court that Mr Byrne is innocent on grounds of insanity.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Panama City, which is representing Mr Byrne's interests in the absence of an Irish diplomatic mission, said Mr Byrne would be eligible for transfer to Ireland to serve out his sentence if found guilty.