Family 'severely divided' by son's killing of allegedly abusive mother, court hears

Alison O'Riordan

A family member of a woman who was "brutally killed" by her son has told the Central Criminal Court that it felt as if the deceased had been the one on trial, while another has said the defendant was "never given a chance" by his "very violent" mother.

One of the defendant's brothers told the court that his sibling had kicked a 62-year-old grandmother to death and stepped on her "lifeless body" as he left her to die. "You wouldn't leave a dog in that state," another brother said.

The actions of Luke Donnelly (29), who told a jury that he "lost all control" and kicked his 62-year-old mother Catherine Henry to death after she threatened to kill him, have "severely divided" his family, the court was told on Wednesday.

Last February, Donnelly was found not guilty of murdering his mother but guilty of manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury, after they accepted his defence that he was provoked.

The court heard that Henry had taken out a safety order against her son in 2020.

Donnelly had told his trial how he'd been "groomed" into a life of drugs and violence by his allegedly abusive mother.

"In my whole life of being attacked and abused I had never defended myself, just waited for it to be over," the defendant told the Central Criminal Court.

Donnelly, of no fixed abode, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter at Henry's apartment on Bridge Street in Dundalk, Co Louth on a date unknown between May 23rd and 24th, 2023.

The trial heard on the day the case opened that Donnelly accepted he caused multiple fractures to his mother's skull and that he left a blood-stained footprint on her back.

During the case, a pathologist testified that Henry died from severe blunt force trauma to the head and suffered multiple fractures to her skull, including one which may have been caused by "a stomping or kicking type of impact".

In seeking a verdict of manslaughter for his client, Conall MacCarthy, defending, had argued that the defendant and his mother had a "complex, sad and disturbing" relationship, and there was evidence of the deceased being prone to "sudden outbursts of violence".

The trial heard that Donnelly had been behaving in "an erratic way" in the months before the killing, including by repeatedly asserting that he was 'Jesus Christ'.

In his evidence, Donnelly, who agreed he had "loaded up" on a cocktail of drugs in the hours before the killing, recalled his mother coming into the bedroom of her apartment on May 23rd, 2023 and asking for his key back.

Donnelly said he told her he was the son of God and couldn't take the "controlling abuse" anymore. The defendant said his mother screamed in his face that she would kill him if he left.

The defendant said he closed his eyes and "waited for it to be over" as his mother lunged at him. "I didn't know whether it was punches or a weapon, but I could feel my head and arms being hit".

At that moment, Donnelly said he was in fear for his life, snapped and threw a punch, which connected with Henry and spun her around.

"I lost all control and proceeded to stomp, it all happened in a moment," he said, adding that he believed his mother was going to kill him.

Previous convictions

At Wednesday's sentence hearing, Garret Baker, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said like any family there were "ups and downs" but that there was a complex dynamic in this case.

He said there was a divergence of views as to how members of the family got along with their mother.

The court heard that Donnelly has four previous convictions, which include an offence of threatening and abusive behaviour under the Public Order Act and three offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act, which date back to 2014.

Baker told Judge Paul McDermott that the Director of Public Prosecution places the offence in the high culpability range, meriting a sentence of between 10 and 15 years.

He noted the defendant had left the scene and failed to seek medical assistance, as well as the level of violence inflicted and the fact that the killing had occurred in breach of a safety order, which the deceased had taken out against her son in 2020.

At the outset of his submissions to the court, MacCarthy said two of the defendant's sisters wanted to read their own victim impact statements to the court, which the judge agreed to.

Kathleen Donnelly began her statement by saying her younger brother Luke was never given a chance to make something of his life growing up as he was always under his mother's control.

"He was groomed by our mother and [a] fugitive criminal. She was not a nice person to be around, the last memory I have of her is her threatening to kill me. She was a very violent mother".

At this point, Judge McDermott said this was not a victim impact statement but a testimonial.

After the court rose to read the statements, MacCarthy told the judge that he was not pursuing the matter.

In a letter of apology read to the court by his barrister, Donnelly said he wanted to apologise to "the victims" in the case and to the court, as he realises his behaviour affects people on a daily basis.

"I was going through a period of mental turmoil, but I take full responsibility for what I did... I feel like a completely different person who committed this offence, it feels like a lifetime ago".

Judge McDermott remanded Donnelly in custody until June 19th, when he will be sentenced.