A MAN accused of three murders described yesterday how his father regularly beat him with a hammer and a shovel as a small child, and how he was convinced he was possessed by the devil.
Mr Brendan O'Donnell also told the Central Criminal Court he heard voices and, as a five year old, told his mother there were worms coming out of his ears. He said he believed he had special powers including the ability to walk on water, generate sparks from his hand and kill cats with a glance.
Mr O'Donnell (21), a native of Co Clare, but of no fixed abode, was giving evidence on the 31st day of his trial on 12 charges.
He has denied the murder of Ms Imelda Riney (29), and her son Liam (3), between April 28th and May 8th, 1994. He also denied the murder of Father Joseph Walsh (37), the former curate of Eyrecourt, Co Galway, between May 3rd and 8th, 1994 and the false imprisonment of Father Walsh.
Mr O'Donnell has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Ms Fiona Sampson and Mr Edward Cleary on May 7th, 1994 and to hijacking vehicles driven by both persons.
He has also denied having a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life and for unlawful purposes on the same date.
In court yesterday, Mr O'Donnell said he was born in March 1974 and had three brothers and a sister, Anne Marie. He said things were bad at home from when he was five years old. There was a lot of fighting between his parents and his father would beat him and his mother. His sister had left home to live with their grandmother.
His father beat him with his fists when he was five "for no reason", he said. His father also beat him with a hammer and shovel and "any implement" near to hand, he said. "If he was in a bad mood, he would take it out on me and come home and abuse me and my mother." He broke one of his ribs when he was aged nine or 10, Mr O'Donnell said.
He said his mother used to try and leave home but his father would secure the windows and prevent her going out the door.
One time his father broke her teeth after punching her in the mouth while driving along in the family car.
He was frightened of going to school until he was seven or eight, and his mother had to accompany him and sometimes sit beside him. He had difficulty learning and ran away frequently.
When he was about five he had gone to Bawnmore training and assessment centre in Limerick after he told his mother of having worms come out of his ears. He said the worms were red and three or four inches long. He also believed the devil had him in hell and was burning him. He would start sweating and feel sick and go into his parents' room. When he was with his mother, he was all right, he said.
He went to Bawnmore centre a good few times". He thought he was given some medication to take and believed he might have been there about a year.
Mr O'Donnell said he remembered his mother going into Our Lady's psychiatric hospital in Ennis and he visited her on a few occasions. He said his mother was different and not as close to him as she had been. "That upset me," he said. He was seven or eight at this time.
His mother was discharged from hospital and things were OK at home for a while. Then, he said, his father began beating his mother again.
His mother then went into hospital again, he said. On the last occasion he saw her, she told him she would be home in five days' time. "Those five days never came. She died."
"I couldn't believe she was dead," he said. He looked at his mother's body in the morgue but didn't accept it was hers until his grandmother told him because she looked very different.
He said he recalled his mother's burial. He saw the soil being thrown in on top of the coffin and thought she was still alive and they were trying to smother her. He said he tried to jump into the grave to stop the soil being thrown down but was pulled back by cousins.
After his mother died, his sister came back to live in the family home. He loved her and was close to her, he said. Things were still bad at home. His youngest brother, Aidan, who was just a few months old, had gone to live in England with their aunt Maureen and he missed him very much.
He said during this time he was moved to another school because he was "bold".
Mr O'Donnell said he recalled seeing a social worker while he was at Mountshannon national school who tried to get him to go to school regularly. He talked to her about his problems but he was still running away from school.
He did not get on with the other children who would laugh at him. He had no friends, he said.
He went back to school for confirmation classes and left when he was 13 in June 1987.
He said there was an agreement that he would stay home and look after the house instead of going to school. He would spend his days, walking around the fields, hem" said.
Things were still bad at home when he was 12 or 13, he said. He used to run away a lot and would sleep out in old cars and haysheds. Then he started stealing. He had first stolen a gun when he was 12 but could not get any cartridges. He kept it hidden under bushes on a field and got cartridges later.
He said his uncle would take him clay pigeon shooting and he was good at it.
When he was 14 he had broken into a house and stolen a shotgun and cartridges, he said. He stayed in the fields until dark and then went home. He said his family wouldn't let him in and said he had stolen a gun. He said gardai were in the house and he was told to give up the gun. He said he fired a shot in the air.
"I liked firing the gun," he said. "I like letting off a gun. I like the shot itself, the backfire from it. It gives me a good feeling, a good sensation.
Mr O'Donnell said he was about 14 when he started stealing cars and burning them. He was later convicted of theft and malicious damage and sent to Trinity House centre for young offenders where he was seen by Dr Charles Smith, director of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.
When he turned 16, he said he stole a car in Clare and burned it in Cregg Wood. "I liked to see it blowing up," he said. He felt "excited" by it.