Woman jailed for fatally stabbing stranger who parked outside her home fails in sentence appeal

A woman who stabbed a man to death outside her home during a psychotic episode has lost an appeal against the severity of her eight-year prison sentence.

Christina Anderson (41), of Brownsbarn Wood, Kingswood, Dublin 22, had never met Gareth Kelly (38), a father of seven, when she twice attacked him, stabbing him five times in total, while he tried to start his car outside her home on February 25th, 2020.

The mother of three was initially charged with murder and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In January of last year, more than a month into her trial, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) accepted a plea of guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility due to a mental disorder.

The trial heard there was evidence of “ongoing aggravation” from Ms Anderson about people using the parking space where Mr Kelly had left his car overnight. The prosecution said Anderson, having stabbed Mr Kelly, walked away and then came back and stabbed him again.

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The State accepted that Anderson was experiencing a psychotic episode due to bipolar affective disorder but did not qualify for the full defence of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act.

It was also accepted that cannabis intoxication “does not feature” in the offence despite telling the jury during her trial that a central issue was whether Anderson’s actions were driven by mental illness or by cannabis intoxication.

Michael O’Higgins SC, for Anderson, had argued at the three-judge Court of Appeal that the sentencing judge, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor, did not correctly assess the level of his client’s moral culpability before calculating the sentence.

He said a previous decision by the court stated that where diminished responsibility arises as a defence, moral culpability can be “extinguished altogether”.

In Anderson’s case, counsel said, “moral culpability is at the lowest possible point”. He drew the court’s attention to a report written by consultant psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright, who said Anderson was “highly dominated by her mental condition” which the psychiatrist said was “so severe that she was experiencing delusions into which she had no insight”.

Anderson had a “psychotic moral justification” for her actions, Dr Wright said, because “she delusionally believed” that her life and the lives of her children were in danger and that she could protect them by killing Mr Kelly.

Delivering the court’s judgment on Tuesday, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said it was a “profoundly sad and tragic case”. In the absence of a mental disorder, Ms Justice Kennedy agreed with the trial judge that the headline sentence would have been at the “very top end” for manslaughter at 20 years imprisonment.

Ms Justice Kennedy further agreed with the sentencing judge that, having considered the mental disorder, the headline should be reduced to 13 years. Ms Justice Kennedy said the sentencing judge had then considered mitigating factors, including the guilty plea and that Anderson had no previous convictions, was a mother who homeschooled her children and had a good work history.

Ms Justice O’Connor therefore reduced the sentence to 11 years and suspended the final three for four years on various conditions.

Ms Justice Kennedy said it is difficult to see how a person convicted of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility could be said to have their moral culpability entirely extinguished. She said the trial judge had properly reduced the headline sentence having taken into account that Anderson’s mental state was “highly dominated” but not “entirely dominated” by her mental condition.

The “substantial reduction” amounted to more than one third of the headline sentence and therefore “properly reflected her mental condition,” Ms Justice Kennedy said.

The discount for mitigating factors, Ms Justice Kennedy said, was “entirely within the discretion” of the sentencing judge and was not an error in principle. She said Ms Justice O’Connor took considerable care in coming to the final sentence as the court dismissed all grounds of appeal and held that the sentence was proportionate.

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