A 29-year-old man has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his mother at her home in Co Louth in 2023.
Luke Donnelly of no fixed abode had admitted manslaughter but had denied murdering 62-year-old Catherine Henry at her apartment on Bridge Street in Dundalk in May 2023.
The jury had heard Donnelly had loaded up on a cocktail of drugs in the hours before the killing and for six months before that he had been telling people he was the son of God.
In his evidence to the jury Donnelly said he had been groomed into a life of violence and drugs by an abusive mother.
He said his life took a turn when he was three years old and his father left.
He said there was a lot of violence in the home and he and some of his siblings were mentally and physically abused by their mother.
He said during his whole life he was "attacked and abused and I never defended myself, just waited for it to be over".
But on the night of the killing, he said he was in fear for his life and snapped before hitting his mother and stamping on her head.
He agreed that he had used "deplorable violence" to end his mother's life.
Counsel for the defence told the jury that Donnelly had a complex relationship with his mother.
Conall McCarthy SC said it was a loving relationship but on another level it was sad and disturbing.
Mr McCarthy said that around six months before the killing the accused had started to represent himself as Jesus Christ and claimed he had powers like the son of God.
He reminded the jury that other family members had given evidence about sudden outbursts of violence by Catherine Henry and evidence from the accused that his mother had taken a butcher's knife to him in 2020.
Mr McCarthy said what had happened to the accused, his father and his siblings over the years was "all running through his head" and that Luke Donnelly had reacted to protect himself from this in May 2023.
He urged the jury to return a verdict of manslaughter.
However, prosecuting counsel Garret Baker said Luke Donnelly’s actions amounted to something close to "summary execution" and was an "unambiguous murder".
He said Donnelly had fractured his mother’s skull in four places and that the 62-year-old grandmother had posed no threat to her son.
He said he had stamped on his mother’s head and on her character at every turn in an attempt to wriggle off the hook.
Mr Baker told the jury in closing arguments that Donnelly’s account of the killing was a "mishmash" and did not add up.
He said whenever the accused got into choppy waters he reverted to stock responses and said he was confused, "but when it comes to the central incident, he can recite it step by step".
While there were complex family dynamics in the case, even if what Donnelly described was accurate, nothing could justify his actions in May 2023, Mr Baker said.
He said the defence had to be seen in context of the "scale, savagery and barbaric nature of the violence" which was meted out to Ms Henry in her own home.
He said there was no genuine excuse which could reduce the killing from murder to manslaughter.
However, after deliberating since yesterday for more than three and a half hours the jury returned a majority verdict finding him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by provocation.
Luke Donnelly wept in court after the verdict was delivered.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 11 May when it is expected that victim impact statements will be heard.
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