A Somalian man yesterday admitted holding his baby son by the feet and hitting his head off a wall after evil spirits told him to "hit him, hit him".
Mr Yusif Ali Abdi told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he took 20-month-old Nathan from his bed and killed him because an evil spirit, "Jinn", told him to "take him, take him".
Mr Abdi (30), with an address at The Elms, College Road, Clane, Co Kildare, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Nathan Ali Abdi at College Road, Clane, on April 17th, 2001. He is detained at the Central Mental Hospital.
As the accused told the court how he killed Nathan, the toddler's mother and Mr Abdi's estranged wife, Ms Amanda Bailey, broke down and had to be helped from the courtroom.
Mr Abdi said he felt he was "possessed" when he heard the voices.
Questioned by defence counsel, Mr Tom O'Connell SC, he said: "I was like in somebody else's body and I was just following the order... with the voice." Asked with what he felt possessed, the accused replied: "By the spirit."
He heard voices saying "hit him, hit him".
The accused, a Muslim, said he awoke at around 4 a.m. on the day of the killing for early-morning prayer. After he heard the voices he went into the bedroom where Nathan was sleeping beside his mother, and took him into the kitchen. "I was holding him with \ hands on the \ feet."
The accused was handed photographs of the apartment and he identified a wall near the cooker where he had swung the child.
The court has heard medical evidence that Nathan died from gross brain damage and multiple fractures of the skull caused by severe violent impact.
The accused told the court he had experienced paranoia and depression since arriving in Ireland from Somalia in June 1996. He had suffered persecution in Somalia, and members of his family had been killed there. The jury heard that he was seen by GPs and by the psychiatric services at Mater Hospital.
He agreed with Mr O'Connell that he had given gardaí a false account of the killing when he claimed it was an accident. He was afraid of the gardaí following an incident in November 1999, for which he was convicted of assaulting a police officer.
Asked how he felt after killing Nathan, he said he panicked. Then he felt "a blanket of cold over me" and the voices stopped.
Cross-examined by Mr Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, he said he had heard the same voices many times before the killing but agreed he had not mentioned it to any of the psychiatrists.
Mr Durack put it to the accused that a report from a GP, Dr Lynch, described the accused "as essentially normal". This was dated 11 days before the killing.
Mr Abdi agreed that when he had taken Nathan into the kitchen he locked the living-room door and Ms Bailey could not get in.
Asked what he did after he killed the child, he replied: "I think I prayed."
The trial continues on Monday.