Jury asked to decide if Co Mayo killer intoxicated or mentally ill

A prosecutor has told a double murder trial that the accused made a decision to kill two elderly brothers in their Co Mayo home in acts of extreme violence.

The defendant’s barrister, however, said the “poisoned gift” of mental disorders he had been given at birth had played a role in his “disgusting and repulsive acts” and thus diminished his responsibility for them.

Both sides were giving their closing speeches to the Central Criminal Court on Friday in the trial of Alan Cawley.

Mr Cawley (30), of Four Winds, Corrinbla, Ballina, has admitted killing Thomas Blaine (69) and John (Jack) Blaine (76) but he has pleaded not guilty to murdering them on July 10th, 2013 at New Antrim Street in Castlebar.

Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, told the jury that there was no issue, but that the accused had caused their deaths. “The issue is whether that amounted to murder or manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility,” he said. “It’s the prosecution case that it amounts to murder.”

He pointed to the evidence of the State’s psychiatrist, whose opinion was that Mr Cawley’s intoxication at the time had led him to act in an extremely impulsive and violent way when he killed the men.

“He told gardaí that he’d consumed an amount of alcohol and drugs throughout the day and repeated that to medical professionals,” he said.

“Jack Blaine, who’s 76, leaves his house at 23.56 to go across the road to Rocky’s bar to get a cup of tea,” he said, adding that barman John Ralph had brought brings the cup across the road and left it on a windowsill.

‘Harmless’

He reminded the jury of Mr Ralph’s description of the Blaines as “harmless and very well loved” in the town.

“Alan Cawley is seen walking past and looks left into the entrance of the bar,” he added, recalling a garda’s opinion that Mr Cawley had seen an opportunity for himself. “He walked past, but then turned around and backtracked, and engaged with Jack Blaine on the roadway.”

Mr Vaughan Buckley reminded the jury that Mr Cawley then entered the Blaine home, where he stayed for just over an hour.

“During his time in the house, he assaulted Jack Blaine and Tom Blaine, causing their deaths,” he said. “He made decisions to kill the two persons concerned in acts of extreme violence.”

He reminded the jury that the State’s psychiatrist had said Mr Cawley’s two personality disorders were not mental disorders under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006, as required for a defence of diminished responsibility.

She was also of the opinion that he did not have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as claimed by the defence.

Caroline Biggs SC, defending, said that when the jurors heard about the brutal killings of two physically and mentally vulnerable men, they must have thought that she and her team had sought to defend the indefensible.

“That disgust and hatred for what he did is palpable in this room,” she said.

However, she said the defence’s submission was that Mr Cawley had a mental disorder. “He had it from birth and he’ll have it until the day he dies,” she said.

Dependency

Ms Biggs noted that the State’s psychiatrist had testified that he had alcohol and opiate dependency syndrome.

She noted that he had been released from prison just days before the killing.

“He was let out in July of 2013 without a prescription for anything, having spent most of his adult life on tranquillisers prescribed by competent doctors,” she said. “But this is all down to drink?”

She said that the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006 stated that it was the jury alone who must decide whether he suffered from a mental disorder at the time.

“You have a constitutional mandate to decide it,” she added.

Ms Biggs suggested that “pigeon holing this into intoxication” was perhaps the easy way for the State’s doctor to deal with the issue, but that it was far more complex. She reminded the jury that, when charged, her client had said he was sorry for all the torture that he had put everybody through.

“There is absolutely no doubt that he’s put the Blaine family and his own family through torture,” she said. “He’s also himself had a life of torture.”

She reminded the jury that he was first seen by a psychologist at two years of age and had an emergency admission to a psychiatric facility at 11, the same age at which he was diagnosed with ADHD.

She said that her client should not be in the same category as people who go out and get drunk and then do reckless things.

“Alan Cawley didn’t ask for these disorders. He was born with them,” she said. “He didn’t ask for a life of torment. It was a poisoned gift he was given at birth.”

She asked for a verdict of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey will charge the jury of four women and eight men on Monday before they begin their deliberations.