A MOTHER of four was yesterday cleared of her husband’s murder by reason of diminished responsibility after just 30 minutes of deliberations by the jury.
The eight men and four women at the Central Criminal Court found Anne Burke (56), of Ballybrittas, Co Laois, guilty of the manslaughter of Pat Burke (55) at their home on August 19th, 2007.
Mr Burke, who had worked as a groundsman at the local convent, was hit in the head with a hammer 23 times as he slept in the downstairs bedroom of the family home.
Mrs Burke’s daughter Linda, who had been at her side throughout the trial, held her mother’s hand and broke down in tears as the verdict was delivered.
They jury had listened to two days of harrowing evidence detailing the 32-year marriage of Anne and Pat Burke, a marriage that was marred by violent rows and regular and excessive drinking.
Mrs Burke said she was assaulted by her husband on their wedding night in 1975, and that the abuse continued throughout their marriage.
The court heard that six days prior to the killing, Anne Burke was admitted to the psychiatric unit of Portlaoise hospital, after attempting to slash her wrists. She was discharged two days later without having received any treatment or medication, at her own and her husband’s request, but she said she knew her head wasn’t right.
She said it was about four in the afternoon on the day her husband died when she picked up a hammer that had been in the bedroom and hit him over the head as he slept.
Mrs Burke told gardaí afterwards that “it was a haze . . . it was like someone else was doing it”. At about 10pm that night she wrote a suicide note to her four children and cut her wrists.
Her son found her in the hallway and brought her into the bedroom to bandage her arms, where he discovered his father’s body on the ground.
Two psychiatrists who gave medical evidence on behalf of both the defence and prosecution agreed Mrs Burke was suffering from a mental disorder, severe depression, at the time of the killing.
Dr Harry Kennedy, a psychiatrist attached to the Central Mental Hospital, said he was satisfied that “at the relevant time, she was suffering from a mental disorder which caused her to have a diminished ability to think clearly or concentrate”.
He said she was clearly suicidal, suffered from low self-esteem and a lack of confidence, and that she believed her children would be “better off if she was dead because there would be fewer rows”.
Counsel for the defence, Patrick Gageby, told the jury that it “wouldn’t be right” to either acquit Mrs Burke, or to find her guilty of murder.
He said the “overwhelming” evidence pointed towards a verdict of guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
The jury returned that verdict after deliberating for just half an hour.
Mrs Burke is due to be sentenced on January 25th.