Dublin lawyer stabbed father 27 times, pleads not guilty by reason of insanity

Daire McCormack George (31) is on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of his father Scott George (76) in Balbriggan on 12 December 2024.

Dublin solicitor accused of stabbing father 27 times cites paranoid thoughts at murder trial

A Dublin solicitor who stabbed his father 27 times told gardaí he believed he was doing the right thing, driven by paranoid thoughts that his father would harm his mother and sister, the Central Criminal Court heard on Tuesday, as reported by BreakingNews.ie.

Daire McCormack George (31), of Cabra Road, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his father, Scott George (76), at the family home at Drumans End, Tobersool, Balbriggan on 12 December 2024.

Prosecuting counsel Vincent Heneghan SC told the jury that it is accepted that McCormack George inflicted the injuries that caused his father's death. Both prosecution and defence psychiatrists will give evidence that the accused has a history of psychosis and was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing, Heneghan said. The psychiatrists are expected to say that McCormack George was not acting rationally and that his mental disorder was such as to render him not guilty by reason of insanity.

In garda interviews, McCormack George described an otherwise close relationship with his father. "He got on with his dad most of the time, and they loved one another," according to Det Gda Ultan McIlroy, who gave evidence on Tuesday. McCormack George told gardaí that "paranoid thoughts had me thinking he would hurt my mam and my sister," and described how, shortly before the stabbing, his father showed him family photographs and "was going on about Trump and China and I just lost it." He added: "He told me he loved me, but I just kept stabbing him."

Det Gda McIlroy outlined the sequence of events on the evening of 12 December 2024. McCormack George finished work at the solicitor firm Mason, Hayes & Curran in Dublin city, returned to his apartment in Cabra where he collected Christmas gifts and two knives, and then drove to the family home in Balbriggan. His father was alone at the time; his sister Hillary and mother Goretti had travelled to visit other family members in Navan.

There is uncertainty about precisely what occurred inside the house, the detective said, but the accused produced a knife and stabbed his father. At around 11pm, while Hillary and her mother were driving back to Balbriggan, McCormack George phoned his sister and told her he had killed their father. Hillary attempted to calm her brother during the approximately 12 minutes it took for her and her mother to reach the family home.

On arrival, Hillary found her brother with blood on his clothes; he again told her he had killed their father. Det Gda McIlroy, who had been called by a neighbour, entered the house and found Scott George lying face down in a back room, blood covering the floor and walls. The detective observed significant injuries to the back of George's neck, with further stab wounds becoming visible when gardaí turned the body over. A knife was found on the ground and placed in an evidence bag. No signs of life were detected, and paramedics subsequently confirmed George was dead.

During the first of three interviews conducted at Balbriggan garda station that night and the following day, McCormack George told gardaí: "Yes, I killed him, but I don't consider myself guilty of a crime. I love my mother and sister, nothing matters more than them."

He told gardaí he had experienced a nervous breakdown the previous summer after attending Oxford University, where he said he realised he was not as intelligent as he had believed. He said he had not been sleeping and had become convinced his father intended to harm his mother and sister. He said he "just lost it" and repeated several times that he would do anything to protect his sister, describing her as "the future."

In a later interview he said: "I thought I was doing the right thing, but I made it much worse."

The trial continues on Wednesday before Judge Eileen Creedon and a jury of ten men and two women.

Source: BreakingNews.ie