Murder trial told man ‘on mission from god’

BY EOIN REYNOLDS

A PARK ranger who said he was ‘on a mission from god’ after being found wandering naked through a field having killed his wife, did not meet the criteria for detention under the Mental Health Act, a psychiatrist told a murder trial last week.

James Kilroy (51) has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering his wife Valerie French Kilroy, who was a native of Leap, who died at their home from strangulation, blunt force trauma and a stab wound to the neck.

The Central Criminal Court jury hearing his trial has been told that Mr Kilroy accepts that he killed his wife. After the killing, he was seen walking naked in a field near his home and gardaí took him to Mayo University Hospital to be assessed under the Mental Health Act.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Camilla Curtis told prosecution counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC last Friday that she assessed Mr Kilroy on June 14th 2019 and during her assessment, gardaí found Ms French Kilroy’s body in a camper van to the rear of their home.

Dr Curtis noticed that Mr Kilroy had lacerations and bruises on his forearms and back. He said his wife had stabbed him in the back but Dr Curtis found no stab wound.

He told Dr Curtis that he was ‘on a mission from god to kill his wife’.

He said he couldn’t remember if he had fulfilled his mission. He spoke of being watched by bodyguards, said that he believed the year was 2024 (it was 2019) and that he felt he had lived 50 years in one day.

Dr Curtis said confusion about time can be seen in schizophrenia, but is more often a sign of delirium or intoxication.

Dr Curtis said Mr Kilroy said he smoked cannabis about ten days previously and that he used to grow it in a polytunnel beside his home.

When asked if he thought killing his wife was right or wrong, he said he had no choice. Following her assessment, Mr Kilroy was discharged from the unit into the custody of gardaí.

In court the previous day, the jury heard how the accused had demonstrated to gardaí in an interview how he had killed Valerie, and he drew a sketch of the knife.

Det Sgt Michael Doherty of Castlebar Garda Station showed the jury a 20cm knife bent to almost a 90-degree angle. A hatchet found next to Mrs French Kilroy’s body in the camper van was also shown to the jury.

Det Sgt Doherty said Fiona Needham, who lives in nearby Doon, Co Mayo, called gardaí at 2.45am on June 14th, reporting a man banging on her front door. The detective said Ms Needham said she heard the man say that he had travelled the world ‘a few times over’ and that her house was the first he had seen with a light.

Niall Corrigan, a resident of nearby Derrygorman, saw a man walking naked in his field the next morning.

The court heard that Mr Kilroy was naked, dishevelled and dirty when gardaí approached him. While naked in the field, Mr Kilroy told gardaí that he was on a ‘pilgrimage of penance’ to Croagh Patrick for what he had done and that ‘God had shown him the path’. He told gardaí that he did not have a family and that he was divorced.

Gardaí brought the accused to Westport Garda Station but there was no doctor available to assess Mr Kilroy.

There was ‘no option’ but to transfer Mr Kilroy, who was now wrapped in blankets, to the A&E department of Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar, said Det Gda Doherty.

Dr Ann Shortt told the court that Mr Kilroy had abrasions all over his body, was stable but was agitated.

Dr Shortt recommended Mr Kilroy be taken to the mental health unit for psychiatric assessment.

Mr Kilroy then told Dr Shortt he had a confession to make but that it would be better for her not to hear it and he instead spoke to gardaí and gave them directions to the house.

Gda Barrett said she and Gda Boyle observed blood on the bathroom wall of the Kilroy home and that a section of an electrical extension lead had been placed in the bath.

Gda Barrett said she and Gda Boyle went to a shed and found a large amount of pooled blood inside a green Ford camper van. She saw a hand and noted that a seat had been placed over a body.

On Wednesday of this week, Dr Ronan Mullaney said the accused had bizarre delusional beliefs that his wife was involved in a plan with others to torture and kill him. Mr Kilroy described owls talking to him.

Having interviewed Mr Kilroy and studied notes from other psychiatrists, he concluded that Mr Kilroy was suffering from drug-induced psychosis and qualifies for the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Dr Mullaney said that during interviews, Mr Kilroy described using cannabis, ecstasy and LSD in his youth. Since 2001, he has only used cannabis and sometimes made cannabis butter that he baked into cookies. In 2018, Mr Kilroy said he spent €230 on a type of cannabis called AK-47.

Dr Mullaney said AK-47 is said to be high in THC, which is responsible for the cannabis high.

Dr Mullaney said it is ‘highly likely’ that cannabis use had a role in the evolution of that psychosis.

Dr Mullaney diagnosed Mr Kilroy with drug-induced psychosis, which he said is different to intoxication.

The trial continues.