Innishannon mother says family still loves son who tried to murder her
BY EOIN REYNOLDS
AN Innishannon mother who suffered catastrophic, life-long injuries after her son attempted to murder her, has hit out at ‘inadequate’ mental health services.
Mary Coughlan almost died when her son Gearoid, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, beat her and repeatedly stabbed her at her home at Ballycoughlan on June 4th 2021.
The Central Criminal Court heard that Gearoid Coughlan is deemed by the probation service to be at a ‘high risk of reoffending’.
Speaking outside the Dublin court on Monday, after Gearoid was sentenced to 1O years in prison, Ms Coughlan said Ireland’s mental health services are inadequate to care for complex mental illnesses.
‘Schizophrenia has robbed my son of so much and caused untold sadness in our family,’ she said. ‘We hope that all families in a similar situation get their required help before it becomes too late,’ she said.
Last December Gearoid Coughlan (32) pleaded guilty to attempting to murder his mother Mary in 2021.
After his 10-year sentence, Coughlan will undergo six years of supervision by probation and psychiatric services.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said Coughlan will require further treatment before he can safely be reintroduced into society.
The judge noted that Coughlan has been aggressive and violent towards numerous people, including his father, mother and hospital staff.
The ‘appalling’ attempted murder of his mother left her with catastrophic and life-long, physical and mental injuries and she is lucky to be alive, the judge said.
The court heard that Coughlan opted not to pursue a defence which may have resulted in him being found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Coughlan would prefer to have a definite prison sentence imposed rather than an indefinite period of detention in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH).
The judge noted that it is not possible under Irish law for him to impose a hospital order and said this is a matter that has yet to be addressed by the Oireachtas.
Coughlan’s barrister Alice Fawsitt SC said her client wants to be returned to prison rather than the CMH, because he cannot smoke in the hospital and has only restricted access to the gym.
He promised to take his medication and to undergo urinalysis to establish that he is drug-free.
Mr Justice McDermott said it is up to the prison authorities as to where Coughlan spends his sentence, but Mr Justice McDermott said the CMH appears to be the appropriate place for him.
The judge said Ms Coughlan’s victim impact statement was ‘full of love and forgiveness and positive thoughts for the future and it is full of the strength she has indicated she derives from her faith and from the care and love of family and friends.’
Mr Justice McDermott said the case justifies a headline sentence of 21 years, but he took into account the guilty plea and Coughlan’s reduced moral responsibility due to his mental disorder, so he reduced it to 12 years.
He also suspended the final two years, with 18 conditions, including that Coughlan take his prescribed medication.
In March the court heard Det Gda Peter Nolan say that on the date of the offence, Ms Coughlan’s daughter Joanne became concerned after her mother texted her to say that Gearoid was at her house, appeared to be ‘quite down’ and was saying: ‘You’re not my mother.’
Joanne’s husband, a GP, immediately went to Ballycoughlan where he found Ms Coughlan lying face down in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor, grunting and struggling to breathe.
He cleared her airways, stemmed the bleeding and called emergency services.
An emergency doctor said that Ms Coughlan would have died within minutes were it not for her son-in-law’s intervention.
Gardaí found Gearoid at a bus stop about 4km away. After being cautioned, he asked twice: ‘Is she dead?’
During interviews he repeatedly denied being at the family home that day but, the garda said, his claims were contradicted by CCTV, mobile phone data, eye witness evidence, and his clothes, which were stained with his mother’s blood.
Gardai also retrieved a recording made by Coughlan’s mother five days earlier in which Gearoid ‘voiced his intention to kill his mother, father and brother.’
Gda Nolan said Coughlan could be heard calmly saying, ‘I will kill all of you’.
A medical report detailed the injuries to Ms Coughlan, including a 25cm incised wound to the neck and multiple open wounds to the face.
When paramedics treated her she had lost cardiac output and required three weeks of treatment in a critical care unit.
She suffered a traumatic brain injury and continues to undergo speech and language therapy.
She will never full recover, Gda Nolan said.
At the same hearing, Ms Coughlan said she is frustrated that people with paranoid schizophrenia are allowed to live in the community without the care they need, in particular, to ensure they stick to their prescribed medication.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Coughlan said Gearoid is the youngest of five children and has struggled with schizophrenia since first year at University College Limerick.
It resulted in eleven admissions to the psychiatric unit at CUH over ten years.
She said: ‘My experience with the mental health services is that it appears effective in certain crises when an immediate threat to life or limb is present, but it falls short in treating mental health conditions and preventing crises, particularly in schizophrenics where patients often resist medication due to the nature of the disease and their lack of insight.’
She described her survival as a ‘miracle’ and said without the intervention of her son-in-law the outcome ‘would have been drastically different’.
She added: ‘I refuse to let this episode define me. I constantly seek new adventures, drawing strength from my husband, family, friends, neighbours and my community. Despite the visible wounds, I feel so lucky I am alive. This has been a poignant and humbling reminder that in the blink of an eye life can undergo irreversible changes.’
She said she had been asked what she would say to Gearoid, if she was in a safe environment. ‘I replied without hesitating that I would give him a big hug and tell him we all love him. I understand that his illness was the cause of this.’
