'That is a true life sentence — one we can never escape from': Family of Matthew Healy speak out

The family of an 88-year-old Cork man who was punched to death by another patient in hospital said the killer will have his sentence reduced due to “diminished responsibility” but said that they were left to serve a life sentence of their own that would never be reduced.

At the sentencing hearing for Dylan Magee, of 30 Churchfield Green, Cork, the court heard a powerful victim impact statement from the daughter of Matthew Healy. 

Magee had been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility for killing Mr Healy on January 22, 2023, in Room 2 of St Joseph’s Ward at Mercy University Hospital. 

Claire Healy spoke on behalf of her family: “On the morning of Sunday, January 22, 2022, I lay in bed still reeling from the loss of my mother, who had passed only 20 days earlier. Our Dad being admitted to the Mercy Hospital the week after her funeral added further to our distress. I made several attempts over the course of a week to get an update on his condition. I never received a call back and was never able to speak to anyone who could give me any information. A week after his admission, I eventually received an update that he was doing well and would likely be discharged within the next few days.

“I tried to visit him that Saturday — the day before he was fatally attacked — but was told that despite no longer being in an isolation ward, visitors were still not allowed. I regret every day that I did not challenge this baseless visiting restriction more firmly. Minutes before receiving the call that shattered me to my core, I had been mentally preparing to bring Dad home and look after him until he regained his strength. Despite grieving for his recently deceased wife, Dad was looking forward to returning to his own bed and his own routines. But he never came home to us again.

“Hearing that Dad had died after being told he was doing well-was like a sucker punch in itself. When I heard that he had been attacked by another patient, I was convinced I must be trapped in a nightmare that I would eventually wake from. But I will never wake up from that nightmare… the moment I heard the details of this horrific and unprovoked attack and asked myself whether it could possibly be real.

“I will never get over the fact that the hug I gave my Dad when I left shortly after my mother's funeral turned out to be my last goodbye. I will always wonder whether, had I been allowed to visit him the day before he was killed, I might have raised concerns that our Dad was in an unacceptably dangerous environment.

“My brother was burdened with the horrendous ordeal of having to formally identify Dad's beaten body in the morgue. I was spared that trauma, but it also meant that I never got to say goodbye, even after his passing. Despite the great efforts of the funeral home, I was advised that it would be too distressing for me to see him. 

"So, the only goodbye I could say because of the severity of his injuries was to a closed coffin. The pathologist's declaration that our Dad died from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, complicated by aspiration of blood and cardiac arrest, conjures images that will haunt me forever. That is a true life sentence — one we can never escape from or have reduced due to the culprit's apparent diminished capacity.

“In the days and weeks after Dad's death, friends and neighbours reached out to express their grief. We repeatedly heard that he was a true gentleman kind, humble, and unassuming, with a gentle soul and a warm, sincere presence. Always smiling and pleasant, he had a caring manner that made people feel at ease and remember him with deep affection. Even total strangers, who were so deeply impacted by this appalling attack, remarked that he looked like a wonderful man with a beautiful heart. These observations barely skim the surface of what our Dad was like.

“Despite suffering devastating grief earlier in his life when he lost a young daughter, our Dad did his best to put on a bright front, with his charming smile and rosy cheeks. He worked tirelessly all his life and raised three well-educated children who never wanted for anything. We were always met at the door with heartfelt welcome and delighted in visits from his grandkids. He treated everyone with respect and deserved the same in return. He always thought of others before himself. I have little doubt that our poor Dad was lying awake all night before he was attacked, absolutely petrified about what was going on in his room at the Mercy Hospital, but too polite to say anything for fear of offending the perpetrator or not wanting to inconvenience the staff. It is heartbreaking and impossible to understand that his life was ended in this way.

“At 88 years of age, he deserved to slip away from this world as gently and kindly as the man he was surrounded by his family, hearing their voices, and knowing he was loved. Not lying in bed terrified, then choking on his own blood after being beaten to death by a man shouting that our Dad had eaten his children.

 “Losing both parents within 20 days of each other is completely unfathomable under normal circumstances. In addition to being robbed of the chance to properly grieve our mother, learning of this horrendous act of violence hit us like a tsunami. Words can't express how traumatising it has been to discover that the attack was carried out by someone who went on a drug binge, suffered delirium from the withdrawal, and then pleaded diminished responsibility.

“In addition to everything else, his actions also robbed us of our anonymity and, with it, the ability to grieve in peace. I will never forget the incessant clicking of camera shutters as we walked behind our Dad's coffin, or the shock of having media cameras pushed into our car windows as we drove to the cemetery. No one should have to endure invasive media seeking sensationalist headlines and spreading inaccurate information during the worst time of their life.

 “Even after the funeral, we still have not had the opportunity for peace. The protracted legal process has left us in limbo for over three years. As if we had not already endured enough heartache, we've had to await updates on bail applications, pending psychological assessments of the offender, and then the trauma of hearing the extensive list of injuries our Dad suffered. And all of this in pursuit of a verdict of manslaughter due to diminished capacity.

“I consider such a verdict acceptable only for genuinely ill individuals, not for those suffering delirium due to self-induced drug withdrawal. We are the product of our choices, and I will never accept excuses suggesting the perpetrator was not responsible for his actions. His own life choices led to him punching our Dad to death. Being rewarded with a lesser sentence due to self-induced diminished capacity is tremendously frustrating and infuriating. It is in no way acceptable to us that an offender can be punished less severely for actions directly resulting from their own choices.

“My view of the world has changed completely. I used to be positive and optimistic, but I now live with fears that the worst will happen. Although it isn't really irrational, is it, when one of the most awful things imaginable has already happened to someone you love? Hearing about the most horrendous crimes no longer shocks me not in a world where a wonderful elderly man can be beaten to death in his sleep in an unprovoked attack while lying in a hospital bed. 

“Some days, the pain of all we have been through feels unbearable. But like our parents, we are strong. Once sentencing is over, I will try to focus on the happy memories of our Dad. I will try to stop questioning my decision not to see him one last time before the coffin was closed, stop imagining the fear and shock he must have felt, and stop picturing him being beaten to death and choking on his own blood.

“Only now, more than three years later, can we even begin to properly grieve for our beloved parents. This court applying the absolute maximum sentence permitted by law will help us come to terms with this and feel that some justice is being served. No member of the Healy family should ever have to fear crossing paths with the perpetrator again. We should not be forced to live with the knowledge that he could be released in a few years, returning to his own family and walking freely among the public. Nobody should be at risk of his actions the next time he diminishes his responsibility.

“Our family has been destroyed. His actions must carry the most severe consequences. There were no meaningful consequences last time. If he had not received suspended sentences for his previous crimes, he would have been in prison on January 22nd, 2023, and not in a hospital room with my Dad. He deserves no pity and no leniency. He extended none to our wonderful Dad.” 

Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford expressed her sympathies to the Healy family and said there was a lot to consider in the case. 

Dylan Magee will be sentenced at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on April 17.