Murder accused Christina Anderson told a psychiatrist she had an alter ego named Nicky and reported incidences of alleged childhood bullying and sexual assault, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright, interim clinical director at the Central Mental Hospital, agreed on Wednesday with defence counsel Michael O’Higgins SC that her report assessed the accused as being legally insane at the time she stabbed father-of-seven Gareth Kelly to death and as being not legally responsible for her actions.
Ms Anderson (41) of Brownsbarn Wood, Kingswood, Dublin 24, is charged with murdering Gareth Kelly (39), who died from stab wounds following an incident at the estate on the morning of February 25th, 2020. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Outlining Ms Anderson’s family history, Dr Wright said the accused told her she had a poor relationship with her father, who she described as psychologically abusive and cruel. She said the accused felt bullied by another family member and there were unpleasant aspects to her parents’ relationship. Ms Anderson described her father as a narcissist and felt trepidation at the hands of the family member who she alleged had bullied her.
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Dr Wright said the accused’s paternal uncle had depression and bipolar affective disorder and took his own life.
She agreed with Mr O’Higgins that some psychiatric illnesses can be passed from generation to generation.
Dr Wright also gave evidence about the accused’s education history, with Ms Anderson saying she was bullied by popular kids who teased and made fun of her, and she was physically bullied and struck by a male student. Dr Wright said the accused described herself as “a shy, quiet child whose unhappiness was visible”.
Dr Wright said the accused told her she experienced sexual assault at the age of 16 while on holiday, where she was cornered by men in a shop who touched her inappropriately.
The witness said Ms Anderson had a history of self-harm. She cut her thighs at 16 and took an overdose at 17 because she wanted to kill herself as she was desperately unhappy. She tried to cut her wrists in her early 20s, which Ms Anderson described as “a cry for help”.
Dr Wright said Ms Anderson experienced a period of mania during her pregnancy with her third child, experiencing sleep disturbance and insomnia. She was depressed after the birth of her third child and her GP thought she may have bipolar affective disorder and referred her for psychiatric assessment.
Dr Wright said Ms Anderson decided to get cosmetic surgery in 2018 as she was unhappy with her body after childbirth. She had liposuction, breast augmentation, a tummy tuck and she also got a tattoo.
Dr Wright said that Ms Anderson felt this decision was probably to do with mental illness.
Dr Wright confirmed that Ms Anderson said she experienced visual and auditory hallucinations when smoking cannabis.
She said Ms Anderson had reported seeing people including “a man without feet”. She saw shapes and shadows and heard voices, including hearing the words “where is the knife?” She also reported having an alter ego named Nicky and said this was who she was meant to be.
Dr Wright said Ms Anderson appeared to know these experiences were not real.
“She understands that they are abnormal experiences not based in reality,” said Dr Wright.
She told Mr O’Higgins that the phrase “where’s the knife” two years before the stabbing takes on new significance in retrospect but at the time Ms Anderson understood these hallucinations were not real.
Dr Wright said Ms Anderson started taking an antidepressant and it had some benefit, but she presented at a later stage and said it was no longer working.
She said Ms Anderson later started taking lithium, which is a mood stabiliser. She said that in September 2018, Ms Anderson reported having a problematic tremor in her hands and increased anxiety levels. She had heightened irritability and experienced visual illusions.
In December 2018, she was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder. In November 2019, she said she had occasional panic attacks that were triggered by stressful encounters with her neighbours. She showed signs of relapse of depression or mania at this time.
Dr Wright confirmed to Mr O’Higgins that Ms Anderson had reported taking her first alcoholic drink at the age of 16 and she habitually consumed alcohol on a weekly basis. She first used cannabis as a teenager and by her late 20s was using it nearly daily, smoking one or two joints a day. She also reported taking cannabis, cocaine, speed and ecstasy and had in the past experimented with magic mushrooms.
When the trial opened, counsel for the prosecution Patrick McGrath SC said there is no disputing that Ms Anderson killed Mr Kelly. The issue will be her state of mind at the time, he said.
Mr McGrath said: “The accused is seen coming out of her house in a dressing gown. It would appear she had a brief conversation with the deceased and she stabbed him and then ran back into her own house.”
Mr McGrath said the CCTV shows Mr Kelly getting out of his car clutching his chest and slowly falling to the ground. He added: “The accused is then seen coming out of her own house again and going back to the gap between her car and Mr Kelly’s car and making a number of movements which look like stabbing movements towards Mr Kelly. She is then seen to drop something as she goes back to her own house.”
Mr O’Higgins had previously told the jury that an issue in the trial is whether Ms Anderson’s actions when she stabbed Gareth Kelly to death outside her home were driven by mental illness or cannabis intoxication.
The jury also heard evidence from the accused’s husband, Mark Anderson, who said the couple were smoking an average of €200 to €250 worth of cannabis per month in the lead-up to her stabbing Mr Kelly.
The trial continues on Thursday in front of Ms Justice Karen O’Connor and a jury of seven men and five women.