A man suffered a psychotic episode 18 years before he killed his wife at their rural Co Mayo home and had used cannabis two weeks prior to the incident, a second psychiatrist has told his murder trial.
James Kilroy (50) has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering occupational therapist Valerie French Kilroy (41) at their rural home at Kilbree Lower, Westport, Co Mayo, between June 13th, 2019 and June 14th, 2019.
The jury has heard Ms French Kilroy died from strangulation as well as blunt force trauma to the head and a stab wound to the neck. The trial has heard the accused had a long history of cannabis use and was regularly consuming the drug therapeutically in the three years leading up to her death.
Psychiatrist Dr Ronan Mullaney, who was the first expert witness to testify on behalf of the defence, has already told the Central Criminal Court jury that the accused said he had slightly increased his use of a high-THC strain of cannabis called AK-47 in the week prior to his wife’s death. Dr Mullaney said he found Mr Kilroy had a substance-induced psychotic episode when he killed his wife. In his opinion, the acute psychotic episode was not the result of acute intoxication but was a substance-induced psychotic episode relating to cannabis use in a vulnerable person, he said. He agreed with counsel for the State, Dean Kelly SC, that the accused knew in 2001 he had a significant problem with drugs, when he was told by a doctor that he needed to abstain or “desist” from drugs in the future.
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Prof Keith Rix agreed on Thursday with Patrick Gageby SC, defending, that he had been asked by the defence to produce a report concerning drug-induced psychosis in a vulnerable person as opposed to a person being intoxicated.
The forensic psychiatrist said he was also asked to address whether the accused, with whom he had several online consultations, might meet the criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and whether substance-induced psychosis in a vulnerable person was actually a mental disorder. A mental disorder, he said, was any disease of the mind but did not include intoxication.
The witness said he had analysed Mr Kilroy’s medical records from October 2001 and had also tried to determine the last time the accused had used cannabis prior to killing his wife in 2019.
Addressing the facts in the case, Prof Rix said, according to Mr Kilroy’s medical records, the accused had suffered a psychotic episode where he was admitted to hospital in October 2001, when he experienced abnormal beliefs or perceptions and expressed psychotic ideas. The witness said the accused had used cannabis about two weeks prior to the episode and had a period of suspiciousness and paranoia before the onset of these psychotic symptoms. He said the accused had suffered a moderate episode of depression and three days later there was no evidence of psychosis.
Mr Kilroy, he said, was prescribed the antipsychotic drug Risperidone by his GP which was reduced to half a milligram daily for a month in May 2003 with the implication that it was going to be discontinued. In 2002 he said the accused remained free of psychotic symptoms.
Prof Rix said the accused told him he had become unwell on June 5th, 2019, when he attended a protest at Shannon Airport for then US president Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland. The witness said the accused felt he might be under surveillance, an episode the psychiatrist called “delusional mood”.
The next day, on June 6th, Prof Rix said the accused was developing delusions of persecution having feared his water was contaminated and that his meal the previous night was poisoned.
The witness said on June 7th Mr Kilroy experienced more delusional misinterpretation when he felt he was being watched and that he was being followed by people from a forthcoming court case.
On June 8th Prof Rix said the accused experienced delusions of persecution believing his friend had put child pornography on his computer which would lay him open to a criminal prosecution. He said Mr Kilroy told him he had buried his computer hard drive in a polytunnel; therefore acting as if child pornography had been on his computer.
Over the next few days, the psychiatrist said the accused had experienced partial delusions of grandiose identity, religious delusions and auditory hallucinations.
Two days before the incident on June 11th, Prof Rix said the accused believed he was under surveillance from eastern European special forces.
On the day Mr Kilroy killed his wife, the psychiatrist said Mr Kilroy didn’t go to work and began to think an Airbnb guest staying at his home in Kilbree Lower was listening in and spying on him. The witness said the accused behaved as if he was the superhero in a comic or movie and had acted on his delusional beliefs by trying to blow the main fuse in the house.
The trial continues on Friday in front of Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men.