A MAN WITH a history of mental health issues stabbed his housemate to death four months after he was released from a psychiatric ward to an independent living facility, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The jury has also been told that although a prosecution witness will say the appropriate verdict is not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, the accused does not accept that this defence is made out. Rather, a defence expert will say the accused has a “very limited responsibility and the proper verdict is manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility”.

Ronan Kennedy SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions opened the trial of Sean Murphy today telling a jury of six men and six women there will be “little if any dispute” that the accused caused the death of Michael Olohan. He told the jury that the accused had bought a fish-filleting knife used in the attack five weeks earlier “for the purpose of stabbing someone”. The central issue for the jury to consider, counsel said, is the mental capacity of the accused at the time of the killing.

Sean Murphy (29) with an address at Bradóg Court, St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3 has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael Olohan (35) at the apartment they shared on St Lawrence Road on August 13, 2020. Mr Olohan is originally from Poppintree in Ballymun, north Dublin.

Mr Kennedy said that the accused was 25 at the time of the killing while Mr Olohan was 35. They lived together at Bradóg Court in a “step down independent living facility” run by St Vincent’s Hospital Psychiatric Services. Both men had mental health issues and while they were provided with medication at the complex, they were “free to go about their business as they pleased”, Mr Kennedy said.

Mr Olohan had lived there for many years while Mr Murphy had moved in four months before the stabbing having been discharged from the psychiatric ward of St Vincent’s Hospital.

Mr Kennedy said the accused had spent nine months on the psychiatric ward, initially as an involuntary patient but later as a voluntary patient. The two men had “no issues with one another, there was no animosity between them,” Mr Kennedy said. “In actual fact, you will hear that the deceased was a very decent, gentle person and according to Mr Murphy, he was an easy person to live with.”

At about 7.10am on August 13, 2020, Mr Murphy entered Mr Olohan’s unlocked bedroom where Mr Olohan was asleep, counsel said. Mr Murphy locked the door and attacked Mr Olohan with a fish-filleting knife, Mr Kennedy said.

Mr Olohan suffered three stab wounds to the chest and when he awoke he “managed to fend off Mr Murphy by grabbing the knife” leaving Mr Olohan with defensive injuries to his hands.

Mr Murphy left the apartment while Mr Olohan, leaving a trail of blood behind him, walked to a rear garden within the complex where he collapsed and died despite the efforts of staff at the facility and paramedics. Mr Murphy went to Clontarf Garda Station at 7.26am and told a garda that he should be arrested because he had stabbed someone.

Garda Michelle O’Sullivan will say that Mr Murphy’s clothes were bloodstained and she noticed that he was wearing odd socks and no shoes. O’Sullivan will also tell the jury that Mr Murphy didn’t appear to show any emotion and that he told her he had “sick thoughts” and that he “got a bad thought to stab Michael… even though he didn’t want to do it”.

Mr Kennedy said the accused later told gardaí during interviews that he bought the knife “for the purpose of stabbing someone” and identified himself on CCTV footage buying the knife at a shop on Wicklow St in Dublin on July 6, five weeks before the stabbing.

Forensic gardai at the scene found a knife on the bed with a bent blade and blood on the handle. Mr Kennedy said they formed the opinion that “some force” was used to bend the blade and there was a possibility that the blade had been wiped clean..

State of mind

Mr Kennedy said there is no dispute that Mr Murphy had an active mental disorder at the time that was “damaging his state of mind”.

He said the issue for the jury to determine is whether Mr Murphy should be found not guilty by reason of insanity or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Dr Ronan Mullaney, he said, will be called by the prosecution and will say that Mr Murphy was suffering from “particularly severe symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder” (OCD) and before, during and after the killing he had psychotic symptoms.

On the balance of probabilities, Dr Mullaney does not believe that Mr Murphy would have appreciated that he was delusional and was “unable to resist the compulsion to kill” counsel said. Dr Mullaney will tell the jury that he considers Mr Murphy to have been legally insane at the time and that the appropriate verdict is one of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Mr Kennedy said that Professor Keith Rix, an expert called by the defence, will agree that Mr Murphy was suffering from OCD but differs from Dr Mullaney in that he will say it is “highly unlikely that Mr Murphy had a psychotic illness”. Professor Rix will say that Mr Murphy was suffering from a mental disorder that substantially diminished his responsibility for the killing and therefore his responsibility is substantially diminished and he should be found guilty of manslaughter and not murder.

Michael O’Higgins SC, on behalf of the accused, made a number of admissions in front of the jury, including that the three stab wounds to Mr Olohan’s chest were inflicted by Sean Murphy.

Mr O’Higgins said the defence takes no issue with the treatment of Mr Murphy in custody and accepts that Mr Murphy gave as his reason for killing Mr Olohan that he “believed if he did not do so he would spend an eternity in hell”.

Mr O’Higgins said the accused does not accept that the defence of not guilty by reason of insanity is made out. Rather, he said the expert for the defence is saying that Mr Murphy has a “very limited responsibility and the proper verdict is manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility”.

State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers was among the first witnesses to give evidence. She told Mr Kennedy that she examined Mr Olohan’s body the day after the stabbing and was shown a sharp, pointed knife with a single edged, bent blade that had been found at the scene. She noted three wounds to Mr Olohan’s chest which she said could have been caused by that knife or a similar blade.

One of the wounds went to a depth of 19cm and penetrated the joint between the ribs and sternum, went through the upper lobe of the right lung and the diaphragm before terminating in the right lobe of the liver. She also noted a stab wound to Mr Olohan’s left shin and a number of incised wounds or cuts on his hands and arms. The injuries to his hands, Dr Okkers said, were “in keeping with defensive type injuries sustained during an assault with a knife”.

She concluded that the 19cm deep wound had caused severe bleeding leading to “hypovolemic shock” whereby the blood pressure drops causing death. That injury, she said, was fatal and was the cause of death.

Charles Verner told Mr Kennedy that he was working as a care assistant at the high-support mental health facility connected to the low-support unit where Mr Murphy and Mr Olohan lived in 2020. He was preparing breakfast that morning when he “heard an odd noise” and saw Mr Murphy walking past the window on St Lawrence Road. He could see blood on Mr Murphy and went after him, thinking he had hurt himself.

When he caught up with Mr Murphy he heard someone else calling “help, help, help” from inside Bradóg Court and ran back into the house. He noticed that his own hands were covered in blood from the gate and when he got into the green area at the back of Bradóg Court he saw Mr Olohan sitting on some steps.

He said: “Michael had his hand on his chest and he said, “the bastard stabbed me”.”

He added: “Michael was conscious at that stage, I was telling him it’s safe now, we’re here and help is on the way, hold on.” Mr Verner and a nurse attempted resuscitation but he noted that Mr Olohan’s breathing deteriorated, he turned pale and his lips turned grey.

Paramedics took over resuscitation efforts and Mr Verner went to speak to some of the residents because “there was a general sense of shock in the house so I tried to allay some fears and keep people calm.”

Fire officer Sean Murphy told Mr Kennedy that he oversaw the efforts of paramedics but at 7.49am he ordered them to stop resuscitation having found there were “no clinical reasons” to continue.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring and a jury of six men and six women.