A teenager who choked a Cork girl to death may be suffering from brain damage, his mother has claimed at a murder trial.
Ms Anne Kepple said her son, Jonathan, had serious tantrums since he was run over by a car when he was six years old.
Jonathan Kepple (19), of Bence House, Deptford, London, agrees he killed Rachel Sandyman (17) on waste ground in Mahon, Cork, on February 5th, 2000, but has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Mrs Kepple told defence counsel Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC that her son was "a loveable child" who always wanted hugs and kisses. She said that her relationship with him changed after he was hit by a car when he was six. He was unconscious for six or seven minutes and was in hospital for two days. Afterwards he began to have serious tantrums and screamed when he didn't get his own way.
Cross-examined by Mr Denis Vaughan-Buckley SC, for the prosecution, Mrs Kepple denied her son suffered only minor injuries when he was knocked down in the road accident. Mr Vaughan-Buckley read from a medical report that said he suffered two cuts to the face and no bone injuries in the accident. The report also said he was not unconscious when he was brought to hospital and was not referred to a neurosurgeon.
Mr Justice O'Neill told the jury a psychiatrist would give defence evidence before he summed up the case today.