Criticism of the Government for not reforming the laws on insanity was voiced by Mr Justice Paul Carney yesterday.
A young Limerick man due to be sentenced for the manslaughter of his mother was granted weekend release into the custody of his father at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
Mr Justice Paul Carney also directed a senior medical officer from the Central Mental Hospital to appear before him to explain why the medical authorities have so far not co-operated in the case.
Damien Donnan (21), was due to be sentenced for the manslaughter of his mother, Jennifer Donnan, whom he strangled at the family home in De Valera Park, Thomondgate, Limerick, on April 17th, 2000. It is the fifth time his sentence was adjourned.
In February last year, a jury found Donnan not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Donnan had snapped her neck and then strangled her when he woke her to get a cigarette in the early hours of April 17th, 2000. He told gardaí he got angry when his mother told him she would "get his father".
At yesterday's hearing, Mr Justice Carney again expressed his trenchant public criticism of the Government for its failure to update the insanity laws, which date from over 150 years ago.
He said that because existing insanity laws clearly did not apply to the facts of the Donnan case, the defence had been forced into the "grotesque" position of having to defend the case on the grounds of provocation.
Donnan's family forgave him for the killing. He had a history of suicide attempts, of being semi-reclusive and he had previously attempted to strangle his brother in 1999.
During his trial, a consultant psychiatrist testified that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Sentence was adjourned until July 8th.