A jury has taken just 32 minutes to find a
Midlands man, who attacked his vulnerable and partially blind brother with a hammer and knife in an attempt to "drain" him of his blood, not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity.
After they had delivered their decision, Mr Justice Tony Hunt thanked the panel for their "prompt verdict", noting there was no reason for a jury to "pretend to deliberate on things when there is nothing to deliberate on".
The three-day Central Criminal Court trial heard that 39-year-old defendant Gary O'Shaughnessy had a history of non-compliance with his antipsychotic medication and had not attended outpatient appointments in the lead-up to the attack.
Although Gary O'Shaughnessy suffered from an alcohol disorder, the jury were told that intoxication did not arise in the case as the defendant wasn't drinking on the day of the attack.
The panel accepted the evidence of two psychiatrists that the defendant was suffering from schizophrenia at the time and fulfilled the criteria for the special verdict.
In his closing speech Ronan Kennedy SC, prosecuting, submitted to the jurors that this was a "tragic case" and "a very heavy heart" would be required not to have sympathy for "vulnerable, clinically blind" victim Mark O'Shaughnessy (42).
Also read: Longford road reopens after collision leaves three people, including a child, hospitalised"A person who according to his carer, wouldn't hurt a fly, and whom the accused said was kind, compassionate and caring".
Counsel said there was no doubt that Gary O'Shaughnessy was the assailant, having engaged in a "horrific attack" in which he struck his brother with a hammer on the head and cut his neck with a knife, exposing the internal structures of the neck.
The defence told the jury in their closing speech that a "terrible shroud of sadness hung" over the case. Dara Foynes SC said her client had "suffered horribly" from a mental illness for a large portion of his life.
Gary O'Shaughnessy, with an address at Ailesbury House, Lynn Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath was charged with the attempted murder of his brother Mark at the same address between May 15 and 16, 2024.
He was further charged with intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to his brother on the same date and at the same location. The defendant had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to both charges.
Ms Foynes had made several formal admissions to the court on behalf of her client, including that the defendant hit his brother a number of times on the head with a hammer found at the scene and stabbed him a number of times with a 'Stanley' knife.
Dr Michael Isaac, for the defence, had told the jury that Gary O'Shaughnessy suffers from schizophrenia, which is a mental disorder within the meaning of the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006. He found that the defendant did not know the nature and quality of the act and could not refrain from committing it.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Mark Joynt, called by the prosecution, testified that the defendant was suffering from the mental disorder of schizophrenia when he attempted to kill his brother.
The expert witness said by reason of this mental disorder, the defendant did not know the nature and quality of the act as he was labouring under the delusional belief that he and his brother were subject to a "forever curse", where they were forced to live out their eternity in a post apocalyptic world and that the only way of averting this terrible consequence was to kill his brother and himself.
In addition, Dr Joynt said the defendant did not know what he was doing was wrong and was unable to refrain from committing the act.
The jury of seven men and five women spent 32 minutes deliberating before bringing in unanimous verdicts on both counts of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Mr Justice Hunt said the case "properly belonged in the medical and clinical realm". "Your verdict is the correct one and in line with the medical evidence and I thank you for that," he said, addressing the jurors.
Also read: Longford man with ‘a bad history’ receives suspended sentenceThe judge exempted the panel from jury service for the next six years.
Mr Justice Hunt then made an order committing Gary O'Shaughnessy to the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) today, with his return before the court scheduled for April 24 next. He also directed the preparation of a psychiatric assessment by an approved medical officer.
EVIDENCE IN TRIAL
Care assistant Louise McGloin told Mr Kennedy that she had been caring for Mark O'Shaughnessy, whom she described as vulnerable and partially blind, for the past six years.
When she arrived at Ailesbury House on May 16, Ms McGloin saw blood "all over the walls and floor" and panicked. When she looked into the sitting room, she saw Gary O'Shaughnessy sitting up on a couch.
When she asked Gary what he had done with his brother Mark, the defendant replied: "We are evil, I drained him of his blood" before laying back down on the couch.
Ms McGloin then saw Mark on a couch behind the door and said he was covered in blood. "I thought he was dead," she said.
The witness said she shouted at Gary "what did you do" before going outside to get help as she was frightened by the hammer she had seen on the floor.
She described Mark as a very quiet person and said he "wouldn't hurt a fly".
Paramedic Gary Finley said he found Mark O'Shaughnessy in a critical state lying on a two-seater sofa in the house on May 16. He said Mark had a catastrophic haemorrhage from a significant injury to his neck. "We thought he was going to die in the house when we were going to move him," he said.
GARDA INTERVIEWS
In his interviews at Mullingar Garda Station on May 24 2024, Gary O'Shaughnessy told officers he started to "feel off" in January 2024, was drinking heavily and began to hear voices.
The defendant said he was slowly losing his mind and had been drinking "thousands of beers". He said he had also started getting thoughts of killing his brother.
The defendant said he remembered getting a hammer and had asked his brother Mark to come downstairs to watch the football. He told gardai he had hit Mark on the side of the head five times with a hammer and also tried to slash his own wrists.
When asked what were his thoughts when he hit Mark with the hammer, the defendant said: "I don't know, then I thought to kill him, then thought to kill myself, thought he dead then started moving around".
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Asked to explain the cuts to Mark's body, the defendant said: "I must have done it. I was over at him to slit his wrists and neck then I began hallucinating and could see the whole side of his neck coming off and thought it not possible". He said he had used a 'Stanley' knife "for cutting lino", where the blade can go in and out.
He said voices had told him to kill his brother and "they said it would take 400 belts of a hammer to kill him".
PSYCHIATRIC EVIDENCE
Dr Michael Isaac told the trial via video-link that he had prepared a report for the defence after assessing the defendant in February 2025. He said he considered Gary O'Shaughnessy to be insane at the time of the attack.
The expert witness said Gary told him he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2015 and had stopped taking his medication about five months prior to the attack. He said the defendant told him he was first admitted to a psychiatric unit in 2015 after experiencing auditory hallucinations.
Dr Isaac said the defendant suffers from schizophrenia, which is a mental disorder within the meaning of the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006. He found that the defendant did not know the nature and quality of the act and could not refrain from committing it.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Mark Joynt, who was called by the prosecution, said he had interviewed the defendant on two occasions via video-link in September 2025.
The witness said Gary's first contact with mental health services was in 2015, when he was admitted to St Loman's in Mullingar. He said this was the first of several admissions over a number of years.
Dr Joynt said the defendant had a third admission in 2017, following non-compliance with his medication, when he presented with auditory hallucinations. It was noted that the defendant was refusing his medication at the end of 2019 and had not attended outpatient appointments during certain months in 2023 and again in January 2024.
The witness said Gary told him he was watching football with his brother when he experienced voices telling him that he and his brother were cursed and he should kill Mark by hitting him six times with a hammer. The defendant told the psychiatrist he was unsure how many times he had struck his brother and that he had also slit his sibling's neck.
Dr Joynt said the defendant told him he had stopped taking his medication three months before the incident as he believed it was not doing anything positive for him in terms of his symptoms and that Olanzapine can cause damage to the liver.
The witness said the defendant told him he felt compelled to do what the voices had told him, that the voices were particularly severe in the week prior to the attack and he felt worn down from them. Gary denied taking cannabis leading up to the attack.
Dr Joynt said the most appropriate diagnosis for the defendant is paranoid schizophrenia, which is characterised by delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder. He also diagnosed the defendant with comorbid alcohol dependency.
Dr Joynt said the defendant was suffering from the mental disorder of schizophrenia at the time.
CLOSING SPEECHES
In his closing speech for the State, Mr Kennedy said that the defendant undoubtedly suffers from very serious mental health issues.
Counsel said there was no doubt but that the blows from the hammer and the lacerations with the 'Stanley' knife had caused very serious injuries to Mark, with the potential to cause death but for the timely intervention of the medical team.
The real issue for the jurors, Mr Kennedy said, was whether the defendant had a guilty mind when he perpetrated "these terrible acts" against his own brother. "Whether he had a guilty mind is ultimately a matter for you".
The barrister referred to the evidence from the two psychiatrists, who he said had conducted their own independent assessment of Gary O'Shaughnessy and considered the collateral material gathered.
He said the two experts were in agreement that the defendant was suffering from the mental disorder of paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
Intoxication, counsel said, was not really an issue in the case as the evidence was that Gary wasn't drinking on the day of the attack. However, Mr Kennedy said the defendant also suffered from an alcohol disorder which co-existed with paranoid schizophrenia.
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Mr Kennedy said the appropriate verdicts on both counts were not guilty by reason of insanity, which he said did not mean that "anyone walked out of the courtroom" but instead there was a period of assessment and then a committal to the CMH.
"While technically other verdicts are open to you, I suggest it would be perverse to return any other verdict in the case in light of the weight of the evidence, which all points one way to the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity," he concluded.
In her closing address, Ms Foynes told the jurors they had heard from Dr Joynt how the "derogatory auditory commands" suffered by the defendant had affected his life and prevented him from getting a college degree. "From 2015 onwards there were various attempts to kill himself, usually at the command of these voices in his head".
Counsel said her client took a "very deep dive" in his illness towards the end of 2023 and particularly seemed to spiral close to April 2024 before these "dreadful acts" were committed the next month.
When Gary O'Shaughnessy had placed his brother Mark on the couch, counsel said it appeared that both men were lying down to die as the defendant had attempted to take his own life earlier that day by cutting his wrist.
Ms Foynes said it was abundantly clear that "the evidence was there" for the panel to return the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
