Wealthy New Yorker found not guilty by reason of insanity after strangling father at Laois hotel
Alison O'Riordan
A wealthy New Yorker who strangled his father at a five-star midlands resort after the 66-year-old had travelled from the US on a "mission of mercy" to help his son has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
The 12 jurors accepted evidence given by two psychiatrists that the accused, Henry McGowan, was suffering from schizoaffective disorder when he killed his father at the Ballyfin Demesne hotel and fulfilled the criteria for the special verdict.
Defence counsel Michael Bowman, with Olan Callanan, had submitted that this was a "particularly tragic" case, as a father's paternal instinct had driven him to prioritise his son's well-being above his own, with fatal consequences.
In his closing speech, prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan alongside Will Fennelly said John McGowan had left the safety of his home in Connecticut and flown to Ireland "without even stopping to drop a bag".
After arriving in Ireland, the successful Wall Street trader went straight to the Mater hospital and embraced his son, effectively taking custody of him, Grehan said.
Counsel said the father and son had retreated to Ballyfin and tragically the deceased, who had come on "a mission of mercy to help his son", ended up dead.
The reality of these cases, the barrister told the trial jury, is that it is often those closest to a person who develops an active mental illness that are "most at danger".
Henry McGowan (31), with an address at Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of John McGowan (66) at Ballyfin Demesne, Ballyfin, Portlaoise, Co Laois, on November 12th, 2024.
The jury of six men and six women spent just one hour and 23 minutes deliberating on Thursday before bringing in a unanimous verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
After they had delivered their verdict, Judge Paul McDermott thanked the jury for their consideration of the case, telling them that these cases are "very difficult".
The judge exempted them from jury service for the next five years.
Prosecution counsel Grehan made an application to the court to commit Henry McGowan to a designated centre for inpatient care for not more than 14 days.
McDermott then made an order committing McGowan to the Central Mental Hospital on Thursday, with his return before the court scheduled for February 20th next.
The judge also directed the preparation of a psychiatric assessment by an approved medical officer.
Finally, McDermott expressed his sincere sympathy to the McGowan family and said it had been very difficult for them. He noted the "extreme care" they had taken in respect of the defendant, as well as their "great dignity and courage".
The three-day Central Criminal Court trial heard that Henry McGowan was the youngest of five children in a family of Irish heritage. The accused's mother was a curator in an art gallery and his father John was a successful Wall Street trader.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Stephen Monks said that the accused told him he had smoked a lot of weed in high school during his mid teens but stopped doing so by the age of 20.
The trial heard that the defendant first fell under the care of psychiatric professionals with an involuntary admission to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in January, 2022.
It was there that McGowan's first "manic episode" was recorded, where psychosis was observed along with depression and suicidal ideation.
Two months later, Henry McGowan was involuntarily admitted to the Sainte-Anne psychiatric hospital in Paris for four weeks. The trial heard he had suffered persistent paranoid delusions on a flight from the US, where he had attempted to seize an infant in a bassinet.
The trial heard Henry McGowan had lunged at the infant's family while under the delusional belief that their child needed to be sacrificed to protect the plane.
Henry McGowan had to be restrained by passengers on the flight and was arrested on his arrival at a Paris airport.
John McGowan travelled to Paris in March 2022 in the days after Henry's admission to assist his son as best he could with his return. The defendant was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder following this incident.
Evidence was given that Henry McGowan took another trip to Europe in October, 2024. In the lead-up to strangling his father, the defendant described experiencing impulsive behaviour such as buying a "conspicuous pink coat" in Harrods in London and renting a Lamborghini in Paris.
The trial also heard that the defendant said he had earned 4.5 million dollars from his last job, with the court hearing that his money has now been placed in a trust.
Henry McGowan was interviewed on four occasions, telling gardaí that he had grabbed his father by the chest and pushed him hard, before strangling him on a bathroom floor with his bare hands. He said he had told his father that he would "always love him as he had his last breath".
The defendant had described the killing in detail, telling detectives: "I counted to 49 and when I got to 49 he was breathing and had a pulse. I counted on 20 seconds longer and he stopped. He kept gasping for air, I would not let go".
The accused continued, saying: "I was seething and physically tired... once he hit his head and was on the ground he wasn't resisting. I then put a full fist into his throat using my full force.
"I pushed down with both hands on his Adam's apple but he kept breathing. I then put full force on his throat with my knuckles.... It was shocking how long it took. I say it took in the region of eight minutes".
McGowan later told Dr Monks that on the day of the killing he had feelings of his father not being his real father and described delusional ideas where his father was an imposter. The defendant said: "I thought it like I was ordained by God to kill my father, like he was a source of evil".
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