A TIPPERARY man who shot his father dead at the family home was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Paul Lane (25), Ballydavid, Littleton, Co Tipperary, shot his father Michael Christopher Lane (50), also known as Christie Lane, twice, once in the stomach and once in the arm with his brother’s shotgun on September 3rd, 2006.
Mr Justice George Birmingham directed that Paul Lane be committed to the Central Mental Hospital until further order. He expressed his sympathy to the Lane family for what they had been through, saying: “It has obviously been an appalling tragedy.”
The court heard Lane took the double-barrelled shotgun from his brother’s bedroom, entered the sitting room where his father and mother were watching Tipperary play in the All-Ireland minor hurling final and fired the two shots, ignoring his father’s pleas.
The jury of eight women and four men returned with their verdict at 3pm, having deliberated for just under an hour.
Mr Justice Birmingham told the jury they had clearly reached the appropriate verdict, and thanked them for their service.
Earlier, the court heard evidence from consultant psychiatrist for the defence Dr Conor O’Neill, who diagnosed the accused as suffering from schizophrenia exhibiting symptoms such as paranoid delusions, delusions of control and hallucinations.
Dr O’Neill told the jury that Paul Lane’s illness started from the age of 20, when he started hearing voices. He said Mr Lane had a family history of mental illness and had smoked cannabis in the past, but that he had stopped because it made him paranoid and hear voices. He was not using the drug at the time of the shooting.
Dr O’Neill told the court Paul Lane was currently being treated with a form of anti-psychotic medication reserved only for the most severe form of schizophrenia, which is otherwise untreatable.
The jury was told that in the months leading up to the shooting the accused was suffering from paranoid delusions, believing that people on television and his neighbours were talking about him.
Dr O’Neill said that in the weeks beforehand Mr Lane was becoming increasingly uncomfortable at home. He went to Germany with a friend but returned home after a week.
On the day of the shooting Mr Lane believed he was possessed, and he heard his father’s voice telling him he was going to hell. He told Dr O’Neill he thought his father was going to kill him because he couldn’t get close to him as a son. Dr O’Neill said the accused suffered from religious delusions, and had said to him: “The good forces left me and the dark forces took over.”
David Kennedy SC, defending, described the incident as “an unspeakable tragedy” in his closing speech. He said: “No one in their right mind would do what Paul Lane did and shoot their father in front of their family in such a horrific way.”
Mr Kennedy told the jury there was no dispute that at the time of the shooting Mr Lane was suffering symptoms of severe schizophrenia. He said consultant psychiatrist Dr Helen O’Neill, for the prosecution, and Dr Conor O’Neill agreed completely that Paul Lane had had an irresistible impulse and was unable to resist the act.