A man has gone on trial accused of the murder of his mother in Dundalk three years ago.
29-year-old Luke Donnelly, of no fixed abode, admits manslaughter but denies murdering Catherine Henry in May 2023 at an apartment in Bridge Street, Dundalk.
Prosecuting Counsel Garret Baker told the jury that Luke Donnelly was accepting responsibility for killing his mother, but the question for the jurors was whether or not it was murder.
Mr Baker said Luke Donnelly's former partner and the mother of his child would say that shortly before his mother's killing he had been behaving erratically and asserting that he was Jesus Christ.
He said the jury would hear evidence that on 23 May, Luke Donnelly had been phoning his partner repeatedly to say he was coming over to her Drogheda home and had tried to push his way in but was effectively ejected.
CCTV footage will show that Mr Donnelly left the house that morning and got a bus to Dundalk, where he made his way to his mother's address on Bridge Street. Mr Baker said Mr Donnelly had been living at his mother's apartment from time to time around then.
The court was told Ms Henry had returned to her apartment an hour later around 9.45am and was never seen alive again.
The next day on 24 May, concerns were raised about her and a Mr Liam Reid, who had been asked to check on her, went to the apartment that evening and found her body.
A post mortem examination found she had extensive blunt force trauma to her face and head, including multiple fractures to her skull which may have been caused from stomping or kicking.
The prosecution will say that Mr Donnelly had gone to his mother's address on Bridge Street early on the morning of 23 May and murdered her.
Mr Baker said the prosecution will also say that Mr Donnelly had left Bridge Street at 3.30pm that day and gone to Dundalk bus station to go to Dublin. He said prior to this, the accused had disposed of personal items belonging to Ms Henry, including her phone and a SIM card.
An examination of a partial bloody footprint found on clothing Ms Henry was wearing at the time offered strong support that it was made by the accused's footwear, Mr Baker told the jury.
The jury also heard the accused's sister, Ms Kathleen Donnelly, had been in contact with her brother on 23 May and had concerns about his mental health. She had driven him to St Loman's Hospital in Mullingar and he had left his footwear in the car and walked into the hospital barefoot to be "closer to God and feel nature".
The barrister said it was for the jury panel to decide whether the prosecution's case for murder had been made to the required standard.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury.
