31-year-old man told grandmother he had killed her son when she was in hospital

Alison O'Riordan

A 31-year-old man, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his father by reason of insanity, told his grandmother that he had killed her son when she was lying in her bed in a hospital ward, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.

It was during the opening of the trial of Ross O'Rourke on Thursday that a prosecuting barrister said that expert psychiatrists for both the prosecution and defence are in agreement as to their opinion about the mental state of the accused when he killed his father.

Michael Bowman SC, defending Mr O'Rourke, made ten admissions of fact to the court on Thursday on behalf of his client.

These included that the accused had caused the death of his father, Stefan Nivelles Posschier, at The Stables in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, between October 24th and 25th, 2022.

Ross O’Rourke (31), with a previous address in Tullow, Carlow, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his father, Mr Posschier (65).

Opening the prosecution’s case on Thursday, Shane Costelloe SC said there is likely to be no controversy over the actions of Mr O'Rourke leading up to the death of his father and how he came to die.

Counsel said Mr Posschier lived a modest existence, and the jury would hear that the deceased was assisting in the care of his elderly mother, Ann Kingston, in October 2022, along with other members of his family. He said Ms Kingston was the grandmother of the accused man Mr O'Rourke.

Outlining the facts of the case, Mr Costelloe said Mr O'Rourke was travelling outside the country from 2017 onwards and had been living in Germany and the Netherlands. He said the accused was living a "nomadic style of life", doing some work and beginning to exhibit signs that he wasn't quite mentally well.

There will be evidence, Mr Costelloe said, that the accused was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric unit in Amsterdam, where he was involuntarily detained for ten weeks and diagnosed as having a mental illness by the Dutch authorities. The lawyer said Mr O'Rourke was released from the psychiatric unit on the understanding that he would return to Ireland.

Counsel told the panel that Mr O'Rourke started to live with his grandmother Ms Kingston, and was in regular enough contact with his father Mr Posschier, who was helping his mother on a day-to-day basis.

The prosecution barrister went on to tell the court that Ms Kingston had to be placed in Carlow Hospital. He said the jurors would hear evidence that Ms Kingston was in her bed in the hospital ward on October 25th, 2022 when Mr O'Rourke, who was sitting next to her, told her that he had killed her son, Mr Posschier.

The barrister said Ms Kingston made a number of phone calls to her daughter - the sister of the deceased man - when she heard this. Gardai then attended at the rural location where Mr Posschier lived.

Evidence will be that gardaí didn't see anything untoward when they attended at The Stables in Kinnegad on the first occasion and left. However, Mr Costelloe said after a few hours, when more information came out, gardaí returned to The Stables, where they found a plastic tarpaulin held down with bricks and underneath was the body of the deceased.

He said another family member had previously gone to the house and seen the deceased's body before alerting gardaí.

The court heard that further evidence will be about a search at the very modest property, where a blood-stained knife was found in a ceramic jar on top of a shelf in the kitchen. Counsel said it is the prosecution's case that the blood belonged to the deceased Mr Posschier.

The barrister said an autopsy was performed on Mr Posschier, which found he had suffered a number of stab wounds, some of which traversed arteries in the body. He said Mr Posschier had died from these stab wounds.

The court will also hear evidence, the lawyer said, about certain comments made by the accused when he was in custody.

The lawyer said the jurors would hear from expert consultant psychiatrists for both the prosecution and defence, who will tell them "what was going on in the mind of the accused at the time".

Mr Bowman, defending, made ten formal admissions to the court today on behalf of his client, including that Mr O'Rourke had caused the death of his father at The Stables and that Mr Posschier's body was found at that address by Mr Jack O'Rourke shortly before 6:23pm on October 25th, 2022.

The trial continues this afternoon before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.