BY EOIN REYNOLDS
A CENTRAL Criminal Court jury has been told that two psychiatrists disagree on whether a man who is accused of murdering his West Cork-born wife at their home in Co Mayo five years ago satisfies the criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Barrister Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), opened the trial of James Kilroy (51) on Wednesday by saying that she expects the accused to accept that he killed his wife, Valerie French Kilroy (41). Ms Kilroy, she said, had a violent death having suffered blunt force trauma, strangulation and a stab wound, while in the rural bungalow she shared with the accused on a road between Castlebar and Westport. Ms Lawlor told the jury of eight women and four men that they will hear from a psychiatrist called by the defence who will say that Mr Kilroy had a mental disorder – cannabis induced psychosis – at the time of the killing.
The psychiatrist will say that Mr Kilroy meets the criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, said Ms Lawlor. The prosecution will call a psychiatrist who will say that Mr Kilroy does not satisfy the criteria for an insanity verdict. Ms Lawlor said that intoxication is not a defence to a murder charge and is not insanity under the law.
The jury will therefore hear from two toxicologists as to whether it could be said that Mr Kilroy was ‘intoxicated’ when he killed his wife.
At the end of the trial, Ms Lawlor said she expects there will be four possible verdicts available to the jury. The DPP’s position, she said, is that he is guilty of murder.
Mr Kilroy says he is not guilty by reason of insanity. It will also be available to the jury to find him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds that his responsibility for the killing was substantially diminished by a mental disorder.
There is the further possibility of a ‘not guilty’ verdict, but Ms Lawlor said she does ‘not see how that arises in this case’. Mr Kilroy has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering his West Cork-born wife at Kilbree Lower, Westport, Co Mayo, between June 13th and June 14th, 2019. The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and the jury. Valerie French Kilroy was originally from Leap.
