The family of a 38-year-old Dublin man who was stabbed to death by a woman he had never met have told the Central Criminal Court of their devastation at his loss.
The court was hearing victim impact statements in a sentence hearing for 41-year-old Christina Anderson, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility of Gareth Kelly in February 2020.
Ms Anderson had a history of psychiatric illness and was having a psychotic episode due to bipolar affective disorder. She has been a patient at the Central Mental Hospital since the killing.
She had been on trial last year for murder and had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but the trial was stopped after a number of weeks when the state accepted her plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Ms Anderson of Brownsbarn Wood, Kingswood, Dublin 22, stabbed Mr Kelly five times as he tried to start his car outside her home at about 7am on 25 February 2020. She was due to be seen at a mental health treatment clinic later that day as her family had become concerned about her erratic behaviour.
Mr Kelly had parked overnight in a space attached to the Anderson home, something that happened from time to time to the annoyance of Ms Anderson.
Mr Kelly, who had never met Ms Anderson, was trying to start his car when she approached him and stabbed him before returning to her house. She then returned and stabbed him again.
At today's sentence hearing the court was told that Ms Anderson had a long history of bipolar affective disorder and was suffering from paranoid delusions in days and weeks before the killing. She had been sending lengthy overnight emails to her solicitor expressing dark thoughts about living among criminals.
She also believed Michael Jackson was going to come to their house and that they were living in the movie 'The Truman Show’.
She believed her safety was going to be compromised and had bought two knives, one of which she was keeping near her door, the court was told. Friends and neighbours had described her as rambling and not making any sense.
Her husband was working abroad and became concerned about her mental state on his return. He had made arrangements for her to be seen at a mental health treatment clinic and had her appointment brought forward but before it could take place she had stabbed Mr Kelly.
In a victim impact statement today Mr Kelly’s partner and the mother of three of his children Maria Murphy described the pain of telling her two older children that their father had been killed. She said it was the worst day of their lives.
Their youngest child was just a week from his first birthday when Mr Kelly was killed and she would someday have to explain how he died. She said the screams of her daughters that day would stay with her forever.
Ms Murphy said her partner had left to go to work that morning and she later saw garda activity across from her home. She had texted Mr Kelly to say something terrible had happened across the road but when he did not reply she began to get "a bad feeling that something terrible had happened" to him.
She said she was about to leave the house to check if his car was there when gardaí called to her home to break the news to her.
She said Mr Kelly was her best friend and "her world" and it made her so sad that she would never see him again.
She also revealed how she felt her family had been dealt with "coldly" after they were not allowed to maintain a memorial to him at the scene of his killing and said flowers and candles they had kept there had been removed twice.
She said she is now "on auto pilot" and feels like she is living in a bad dream.
Her constant question remained as to why he was killed, and she still asks why he was killed over a parking space.
She also described the trauma of watching her partner's death on CCTV during the trial last year and said her health had suffered ever since.
"My Gareth died alone and scared in the worst possible way over a parking space, yes a parking space. He did not have a chance. She killed my Gareth, she killed my baby and I could not save him, she destroyed my life," she said.
She also said Christina Anderson had not only killed Gareth but had "taken half" of her.
Mr Kelly’s mother’s victim impact statement was read by prosecuting counsel to the court. Noleen Kelly described the journey to Dublin on hearing of her son’s killing as the worst and longest ever as she prayed the news was not true.
She described how her husband, Gareth’s father, was later hospitalised with Covid and was alone in hospital for months while grieving for his son. She said he later died "broken hearted" in November 2021.
"There are no words to describe how much I miss Gareth," she said. She said the family was serving their own life sentence.
His sister Lorraine Kelly said her brother was a hardworking man who had two jobs to support all seven of his children.
He "loved life and was always smiling, despite the challenges and struggles of life as an adult and parent and he was smashing it. He used to laugh at me when I was stressed and would tell me to slow down and enjoy life and don’t let it pass you by," she said.
She also described how the pandemic lockdown meant the family had to grieve separately. She said her father had died a broken man and she had told him before his death that she hoped they would get justice for her brother and some answers.
"My dad died a broken man and never got answers," she added.
She also described the trauma of seeing her brother’s killing on CCTV during the trial and "enduring the horrific details" in court which had a "devastating effect" on all their lives.
"I could never find the words to truly explain the loss from our lives," she said.
Judge Karen O’Connor thanked Mr Kelly’s partner and his sister for giving an insight into his life and personality. The judge said the court process could not often give a sense of a person and it was clear from the comprehensive victim impact statements just how loving and loved he was.
The case was adjourned to 22 May next for further submissions from the prosecution and the defence.
Ms Anderson will be sentenced at a later date.
