A jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, in the trial of a Co Limerick father accused of the murder of his son in 1999.
The jury, by a ten to two majority verdict, found Mr Gerry Connell (54), not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his son Barry Connell (25), at the family home in Clyduff West, Lisnagry, Co Limerick, on June 9th, 1999. Mr Justice Liam McKechnie put back sentencing on the manslaughter conviction to Tuesday next.
The jury had heard that Barry Connell had been diagnosed as suffering from acute manic psychosis. A month before the shooting, his father signed him into a psychiatric unit, but he was back home within days. At the time he was shot, he had threatened to drive a tractor through the house. His father told the jury he was "worn out" and "scared" when he took a shotgun from under his bed and went outside and shot him.