Courts

Stephen Silver’s shooting of Garda Colm Horkan ‘not a rational act’, jury hears

Defence counsel makes closing speech in murder trial linked to June 17th, 2020 incident in Castlerea

Stephen Silver has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Garda Colm Horkan. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins

Fiona Magennis
Fri Mar 10 2023 - 18:36

The very act of shooting Garda Colm Horkan should “raise questions” about Stephen Silver’s mental capacity, a defence barrister has told a Central Criminal Court murder trial.

In his closing address to the jury on Friday, Dominic McGinn SC said the shooting of Garda Horkan was “not a rational act” and there was no rational basis or motivation for what happened.

Mr McGinn described Garda Horkan’s death as “a terrible tragedy” that “should not have happened”.

“Garda Horkan was trying to do his job to the best of his ability and should not be gunned down in the street,” he said. “Nobody got up on the 17th of June expecting this to happen or planning this to happen but it did.”

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He told the jury his client’s behaviour while in custody was “erratic” and saw him urinating in his cell, banging his head off a wall and pacing around. He said Mr Silver did not display a lot of “intact social functioning” on the day of the killing and pointed to the manner in which the accused behaved and spoke to gardaí in the garda station, his shouting in the street and pacing up and down.

“Shooting a Garda. That’s not intact social function,” he said, adding the natural conclusion from this was that Mr Silver was in a relapse of his bipolar affective disorder at the time.

Significant factor

Mr McGinn said consultant psychiatrist Prof Harry Kennedy was “confident that mental illness played no part in the shooting” but said Dr Brenda Wright, interim clinical director at the Central Mental Hospital, had given detailed evidence setting out her belief that Mr Silver’s mental illness was a significant factor at the time.

Mr Silver has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Garda Horkan knowing or being reckless as to whether he was a member of An Garda Síochána acting in accordance with his duty in Castlerea, Co Roscommon on June 17th, 2020. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and the jury has been told the main issue is Mr Silver’s state of mind at the time of the shooting.

Mr McGinn told the jury they had seen for themselves Mr Silver’s behaviour during garda interviews and said that while he was not going to go through it all, he had no doubt this had a “searing effect on your mind in terms of how he presented”.

He said the accused showed “no appreciation of the situation he was in” and kept coming back to “I didn’t do anything, why am I here?”

He said Dr Wright described this and other actions, such as Mr Silver rubbing his feet and fixing the blinds, as examples of “disinhibited behaviour”.

Counsel said shooting Garda Horkan was “not a rational act” and was not a “targeted attack” or a deliberate attack on a Garda. It was instead, he contended, a chance encounter.

“There’s apparently no rational basis or motivation for what happened so the very act of shooting Garda Horkan should raise questions about his mental capacity because it doesn’t make sense,’ he said.

Relapse

The lawyer said Mr Silver suffered “an extremely significant relapse” of his bipolar affective disorder when he was admitted to the Central Mental Hospital on June 23rd, 2020 and stayed there for 10 months.

He said Dr Greg Kelly, a Castlerea based GP who saw Mr Silver a number of times over the course of his time in custody, saw him presenting in a number of ways and had given evidence that the accused’s presentation was “completely inappropriate” for where he was. Dr Kelly had told how Mr Silver was at times “manic” and at other times “elated”.

Mr McGinn said Prof Kennedy was “confident that mental illness played no part in the shooting”.

“You have to decide whether or not that is a stateable proposition. He said that showed simply his normal personality,” he added.

Mr McGinn said Mr Silver had acted violently and shown aggression in the past but on every other occasion when this had happened, he had been admitted to psychiatric care. He said Prof Kennedy had argued that Mr Silver had contrived a situation to get away with a serious crime.

“That he put on a performance, that’s what’s being suggested,” he said. “That he put on that performance before the fatal shooting and carried on this performance until he’s admitted to the Central Mental Hospital. That he has contrived a performance that morphs into a full blown relapse of his illness.

“I suggest to you that’s not a credible explanation for what is going on.”

Counsel said the jury had to decide, on the balance of probabilities, whether or not the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time. He said they then had to decide whether the effect of that disorder was such as to diminish his responsibility. He said Dr Wright has said that his mental illness was a significant factor at the time..

The trial continues on Monday when Ms Justice Tara Burns will give her charge to the jury.

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