Courts

Husband accused of murder ‘waited in long grass’ before knife attack, court hears

James Kilroy (50) had a long history of cannabis use but told gardaí he had not used it for a week before attack

James Kilroy has admitted to killing his wife at their rural Co Mayo home in 2019.

Alison O'Riordan
Tue Nov 14 2023 - 21:05

A murder accused husband described to gardaí how he “waited in the long grass” for his wife before slitting her throat and choking her with his “bare hands”, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.

“I didn’t stop, there was nothing to stop. It was black and nasty,” James Kilroy told gardaí in interview.

A psychiatrist, called by the defence, also gave evidence on Tuesday that Mr Kilroy – who admits killing his wife at their rural Co Mayo home – had a long history of cannabis use and was regularly consuming the drug therapeutically in the three years leading up to her death.

The expert witness said the accused had purchased a high-THC strain of cannabis called AK-47 in 2018, of which he had slightly increased his use in the week before his wife’s death. The witness also gave evidence that THC can make certain people with a predisposition experience substance-induced psychosis.

READ MORE

Mr Kilroy (50) has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering occupational therapist Valerie French Kilroy (41) at their rural home at Kilbree Lower, Westport, Co Mayo, between June 13th, 2019, and June 14th, 2019.

The jury heard last week that after he was brought to Mayo University Hospital, Mr Kilroy asked to speak to gardaí to make a confession and said: “I killed my wife”.

The trial heard that, until this point, gardaí had no suspicion of the accused having done anything criminal. Gardaí were dispatched to the defendant’s home at Kilbree Lower at 3pm on June 14th where they discovered the body of Ms French Kilroy in a green camper van parked facing a wall in a shed.

The next witness, Garda Declan Sweeney from Castlebar Garda station told Michael D Hourigan BL, prosecuting, that on June 14th, 2019, the accused was brought to Castlebar Garda station where he was interviewed by gardaí.

During the first interview on June 15th, when asked by gardaí to tell them what had happened to his wife, Mr Kilroy said he had taken cannabis for some time and successfully grown two cannabis plants at his home for his own use after reading it would help his anxiety. “I’ve been feeling strange for some time, I stopped taking cannabis seven days ago,” he continued.

The accused said his wife had gone out with friends on the night of June 13th and that was when things “went south”. He said he was feeling watched at the time and “felt 20,000 people were watching my every move”.

In the second interview, Mr Kilroy said he had jumped out of the bathroom window that night and “waited in the long grass”. He then jumped into an unlit bonfire at the back of Kilbree Lower.

He added: “A car came up and it was Valerie. I heard her say ‘James is that you’. I didn’t say anything. I pushed her up against the door, slit her throat, we had battle ... there was kicking, blood everywhere, it was crazy. I choked her. I tried suffocating her. I didn’t stop, there was nothing to stop. It was black and nasty. I killed her with my bare hands.”

He said Valerie was groaning and that he had no plan to kill her “but something on that night just boom”.

He said he had not taken an intoxicant that day and had been off cannabis and alcohol “the whole week”.

The jury has heard that Ms French Kilroy died from strangulation with a ligature as well as blunt force trauma to the head and a stab wound to the neck.

In the third interview, the accused was asked by gardaí why he hadn’t told them what had happened to Valerie when they found him in a field. “Nobody asked, I was having trouble, no fit state, I was on a different planet,” he replied.

The trial previously heard that gardaí detained Mr Kilroy under the Mental Health Act after finding him naked in a field in Derrygorman outside Westport, where he told officers that he was on a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick and “that God had put him on this path”.

Mr Kilroy told gardaí that there was a bit of friction between the couple on June 13th but that they didn’t row very much. Asked whether he had got physical in the past with Valerie, the accused said he would never raise his hand to any woman.

Det Srgt Michael Doherty agreed with Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the accused told gardaí when he was detained in the Garda station that he had not consumed alcohol or drugs.

After this evidence, Mr Kelly informed the court that the prosecution’s case was now closed.

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Ronan Mullaney from the Central Mental Hospital, who was called by the defence, told Patrick Gageby SC the accused told him that he first became mentally unwell in 2001 and had got very anxious after taking ecstasy at a party.

The witness said the accused was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Bantry in Cork in 2001, when he believed he was under surveillance and at risk of being kidnapped by “president Bush” and handed over to Osama bin Laden to be tortured. He was discharged after three nights and lived with his parents for three months.

His GP in Meath then sent the accused to a psychiatrist in Navan where he was treated with the antipsychotic medication Risperidone. Records at the time stated the accused had a history of drug use in college and used the hallucinogenic drug LSD, said the witness.

Referring to the accused’s history of intoxicant use, Dr Mullaney said the accused told him that he had a long history of cannabis use which began in 1991 and had been regularly consuming the drug therapeutically rather than for pleasure in the three years leading up to the death of his wife.

The expert witness said the accused told him his wife was aware of his consumption of cannabis in cookies. He said he had used three quarters of an ounce of AK-47 cannabis over 12 months.

Mr Gageby asked the psychiatrist what was the effect of THC in cannabis and he replied: “It is what is thought to be the active ingredient that produces a feeling of being high and [for] certain people with a predisposition can make them experience substance induced psychosis.”

The trial continues tomorrow in front of Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men.

LATEST STORIES