A patient who admitted killing another patient in a psychiatric unit in Co Cavan has been jailed for eight years.
50-year-old Ian Harman of Carrickallen, Mountain Lodge, Cootehill, Co Cavan, denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 82-year-old Michael Treanor in Cavan General Hospital just over three years ago.
Ian Harman was admitted as a voluntary patient to the psychiatric unit at Cavan General Hospital on the 20 June 2011.
A week later the 50-year-old got up on Michael Treanor's bed and smothered him.
Mr Treanor was suffering from dementia and Harman, who was suffering from depression, immediately told staff what he had done.
He pleaded not guilty to murder but admitted manslaughter - a plea that was acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions on the basis of Section 6 of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act.
In a victim impact statement Mr Treanor's nephew said the family feels strongly that the system has favoured the defendant, with the whole focus being on mitigation and legal wrangling and little about the victim or victims.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan sentenced Harman to ten years, with the final two years suspended.
The judge said the mitigating circumstances were his remorse, his plea of guilty, his admission at the start of the trial that he killed Mr Treanor, and his cooperation with the garda investigation and psychiatrists.
