A South Dublin Court has found Deirdre Morley not guilty of murdering her three children because of insanity. After deliberating for over four hours, the jury in the case handed down the verdict on all three murder charges laid against the forty-four-year-old former nurse following a trial that has attracted international attention.
Morley reportedly killed her three children, Connor (9), Darragh (7), and Carla (3), on January 24, 2020, at their home in Newcastle, South Dublin. She later admitted to smothering her children using sticky tape and plastic bags while the children's father was away at work. While she had planned to kill herself as well, she passed out from medication and alcohol before she could carry this out. The bodies were later found by their father, Andrew McGinley, that evening.
During the subsequent trial, during which her attorney pleaded insanity on her behalf. The court heard evidence that the accused had a long history of depression and that this had escalated to a full-blown psychosis at the time of the killings. This included testimony from two psychiatrists who described Morley as suffering from bipolar disorder and genuinely believed killing her children was for their benefit as she considered them as having no future due to her mental illness.
In instructing the jury before deliberations, Mr. Justice Coffey stated that the psychiatric testimony clearly showed that the defendant was acting on an irresistible impulse and that she was not aware that her actions were wrong. “The doctors are unanimous in their view she was legally insane when she smothered and killed her three children,” he said. “This is not a case where the prosecution seeks a finding of murder on any count.”
Under the U.K.'s Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006, the judge is now obligated to commit Ms. Morley to a designated centre, which is believed to be the Central Mental Hospital in her case. While at the centre, a consultant psychiatrist must now be reviewed to determine her future care. Proceedings are adjourned until May 31 to allow for a report on Ms. Morley to be furnished to the court.
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