A 49-year-old father of four who killed his 12-year-old son with a lump hammer and then cut his throat has been found guilty but insane by a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
John Carroll of Bayview Rise, Killiney, Co Dublin had denied a charge of murder.
Psychiatric evidence was that Mr Carroll suffered from a severe psychotic and deluded form of depression and at the time that he killed his son on 30 April 2004 he did not know that what he was doing was morally wrong.
During the trial, the jury was told that when he collected his wife at the Dart station he told her he had killed their son, Andrew.
On the day of the murder, John, or Seán, Carroll had dropped his wife to the Dart station and three of their four children to school and childcare. Andrew was on a day off and father and son sat down to watch a video.
Then when Andrew went to the kitchen to reheat some rashers, his father hit him over the head several times with a lump hammer.
He then cut his throat, carried him upstairs, lay him on his bed and covered him with a duvet.
He cleaned the house, did the shopping and prepared for the return of the rest of the family. When his eldest son returned he told him what he had done. Then he contacted his wife.
Prosecuting counsel Patrick Gageby had told the jury earlier today there were only two verdicts open to them, that Mr Carroll was guilty of his son's murder or guilty but insane.
He argued that Mr Carroll’s excuse for the killing defied logic, saying Mr Carroll had become obsessed with the idea of impending bankruptcy and being investigated by Revenue. However the jury was told the family were doing nicely.
