A man who admitted that he "danced" on the head of a young man who subsequently died was not insane, a forensic psychiatrist told a murder trial yesterday.
Dr Cleo van Velsen, a forensic psychiatrist from the East London Forensic Services, said that she was asked on behalf of the DPP to assess Mr Brian Willoughby.
Mr Willoughby (24), Orwell Park, Templeogue, Dublin and two others, Mr Neal Barbour, (20), Domville Road, Templeogue and another teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny the murder of Mr Brian Mulvaney on March 11th, 2000 at Templeogue.
Dr van Velsen told the court that she interviewed Mr Willoughby at the Central Mental Hospital in February 2001 and had access to extensive psychiatric and medical records.
While the court has already heard that Mr Willoughby was diagnosed with "a severe degree of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)" the witness said she did not think he had a mental illness. "He had a conduct disorder, which developed into an anti-social personality disorder," she said.
Combined with head injuries the accused suffered in a motor cycle crash in 1998, he was very disturbed. "He suffered from a major abnormality of the mind, not a disease," she said.
When asked by Mr Tom O'Connell SC, for the prosecution, if he suffered from a form of psychosis or madness where he had lost control with reality, she replied "no".
"Although this is a very disturbed young man, in my opinion at the time he did have the capacity to know what he was doing," she said.
He could also distinguish between right and wrong.
The trial continues today.