A 32-year-old man has been jailed for life for the murder of his mother at the family home in Ballyconnell in Co Cavan in January 2025.
Danny Heyneman will begin serving his life sentence for murdering Annie Heyneman, after he has served a six-year sentence for the attempted murder of his father Henk, on the same night.
The judge said the six-year sentence may only be a token but it was a substantial recognition of the separate wrong that was done to Mr Heyneman by his son.
On the night of 11 January 2025, Henk Heyneman arrived at a neighbour's house, barefoot and bleeding heavily from more than 20 stab wounds. He said his son, Danny had gone crazy and he feared his wife was dead.
Danny Heyneman had attacked his mother, stabbing her 14 times and turned on his father when he tried to intervene.
He then fled to a takeaway almost 7km away and rang emergency services saying there had been a "family argument".
Mr Justice Tony Hunt said this was a case involving extraordinary violence within the supposed safety of the family home.
The judge said the attacks involved sustained repeated violence and there was a determined continuation of an attack on Henk Heyneman after the attack on Annie Heyneman.
He said the couple's only crime was to extend a place of safety to their son who suffered with mental health difficulties. But he said it was an illustration of the old adage "no good deed goes unpunished" and had catastrophic results.
Judge Hunt said the attack had caused enduring harm to those left behind and Henk Heyneman continued to suffer severe physical and psychological consequences. The trauma on family members was profound and permanent, he said, and would not end with this generation.
The judge said he accepted Daniel Heyneman was intoxicated at the time, but he did not accept he had little memory of the incident.
He also accepted his remorse was genuine but he said this was "a very small drop in the very large ocean of damage and destruction" and would be of scant comfort to those left to deal with the consequences of his actions.
The judge said he apologised as far as he could to the family for the delay in the case being resolved.
He said lawyers had to explore whether Danny Heyneman's actions could be explained by reference to his background of mental health difficulties including depression, a history of self harm and extreme paranoia. And he said these cases with a psychiatric aspect were bedevilled by difficulties including a lack of resources, bureaucratic delays and difficulties in accessing necessary expertise.
He said they had been left with a case that could not be explained by psychiatric or medical difficulties and remained firmly in the criminal culpability domain.
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Danny Heyneman's actions could be explained by emotional distress, acute alcohol intoxication and impaired impulse control, but he said these did not excuse culpability.
Judge Hunt said the victim impact statements gave a very clear idea of the kind, generous, caring person Annie Heyneman was. But they also were very bleak in describing the predicament her family had been left in. He acknowledged that "nothing will ever be the same."
The judge had to consider if he should make the sentence for the attempted murder of Henk Heyneman and the mandatory life sentence for the murder of Annie Heyneman consecutive or if they should run together.
He said he did not believe concurrent sentences would be appropriate and he believed it would be improper not to separately recognise the harm and damage Henk Heyneman had to deal with.
He said however, he had to take the principle of proportionality into account and could not impose such a crushing sentence that it would offer absolutely no hope to the convicted person.
He sentenced Danny Heyneman to six years for the attempted murder of his father, dating back to the date of the offences.
When that sentence expires, he will begin his life sentence for the murder of his mother.
The judge said he realised balances were difficult to strike in cases like this, which he said were thankfully, rare.
Judge Hunt finished by wishing the family well for the future. He said he hoped the termination of these proceedings lifted a tiny part of the burden for them.
