Man who 'lost all control' and stomped on mother's skull found guilty of manslaughter

Alison O'Riordan

An amateur kickboxer who said he "lost all control" and stomped on his 62-year-old mother's skull after she threatened to kill him has been found not guilty of her murder but guilty of manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury on Thursday evening.

The jury of seven men and five women took just three hours and 36 minutes to accept the defence of provocation put forward by Luke Donnelly (29), who told the panel of being "groomed" into a life of drugs and violence by his allegedly abusive mother.

"In my whole life of being attacked and abused I had never defended myself, just waited for it to be over," Donnelly told the Central Criminal Court last week.

The jurors had the option of returning two verdicts in relation to the murder charge against Donnelly, namely; guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by reason of self-defence or provocation.

Donnelly, of no fixed abode, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his mother Catherine Henry (62) at her apartment on Bridge Street in Dundalk, Co Louth on a date unknown between May 23rd and 24th 2023.

The trial jury heard on the day the case opened that Donnelly accepted he caused multiple fractures to his mother's skull and that he left a blood-stained footprint on her back.

During the trial, a pathologist testified that Ms Henry died from severe blunt force trauma to the head and suffered multiple fractures to her skull, including one which may have been caused by "a stomping or kicking type of impact".

In seeking a verdict of manslaughter for his client, Conall MacCarthy SC, defending, had argued that the defendant and his mother had a "complex, sad and disturbing" relationship, and there was evidence of the deceased being prone to "sudden outbursts of violence".

The trial heard that Donnelly had been behaving in "an erratic way" in the months before the killing, including by repeatedly asserting that he was 'Jesus Christ'.

In his evidence, Donnelly, who agreed he had "loaded up" on a cocktail of drugs in the hours before the killing, recalled his mother coming into the bedroom of her apartment on May 23 2023 and asking for his key back.

Donnelly said he told her he was the son of God and couldn't take the controlling abuse anymore. The defendant said his mother screamed in his face that she would kill him if he left.

The defendant said he closed his eyes and "waited for it to be over" as his mother lunged at him. "I didn't know whether it was punches or a weapon but I could feel my head and arms being hit".

At that moment, Donnelly said he was in fear for his life, snapped and threw a punch, which connected with Ms Henry and spun her around. "I lost all control and proceeded to stomp, it all happened in a moment," he said, adding that he believed his mother was going to kill him.

The 12 jurors on Thursday rejected the State's contention by a majority verdict that the defences of provocation and self defence were not open to Donnelly.

It was the prosecution case that Donnelly had crushed his mother's skull "like he would a common insect" and that the 62-year-old grandmother had posed no more threat to her son than that.

In his closing speech, Garret Baker SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said Donnelly had stamped on Ms Henry's skull and also "upon her character at every available turn" in an attempt to "wriggle off the hook".

Following the verdict, Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury for their time, the efforts they went to and the patience they had shown. The judge described the material the panel had to deal with as "very difficult". He exempted them from jury service for the next five years.

The judge directed a probation report and remanded Donnelly in custody until May 11th for a sentence hearing.

On that date, the Henry family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Catherine's death has had on their lives.

Evidence in trial

Donnelly's sister, Kathleen Donnelly, told the jury that she was "absolutely terrified" of her mother growing up as she "physically, verbally and emotionally" abused her and her siblings on a daily basis.

Ms Donnelly also told the trial that her brother Luke always went back to their mother, no matter how badly she treated him, and that he "absolutely idolised" her.

In cross-examination, Ms Donnelly recalled her mother "diving" on top of Luke in a bar in Malta and repeatedly punching him. "I never stood up to her, I was terrified of her and everyone was terrified of her growing up," the witness said.

The defendant's father Gerry Donnelly, who had once been married to the deceased, testified that Ms Henry had stabbed him in the arm with a steak knife during an argument around 1999 and that she had also pushed him down the stairs in a separate incident.

Giving evidence in his own defence, Luke Donnelly told his trial that Ms Henry's mental health deteriorated when her second husband died and she became very angry, violent and depressed.

He said Ms Henry would smash things, drink and take a lot of prescription tablets.

Donnelly said when his mother began a relationship with a drug dealer, he was put "out on the street" at 14 years old as he wouldn't move to Portugal with "a drug trafficker".

The defendant said he later moved to Liverpool with his mother and her partner at 16 years old, when he said he was "groomed" into a lifestyle he didn't want. He said he had to sell drugs, extort money from people and was forced into being violent.

He said his mother had run at him with a "massive butcher's knife" in 2020 and tried to stab him.

"In my whole life of being attacked and abused I had never defended myself, just waited for it to be over," Donnelly told the court.

Donnelly said he never held any anger or animosity towards his mother, no matter what she did or how many times she tried to kill him, spit on him or knock him unconscious.

In cross-examination the prosecutor put it to Luke Donnelly that "a 62-year-old unarmed grandmother threatens you and you are in fear of your life?".

"You have to understand it was the person who abused me mentally and physically since I was a child," Donnelly replied.

The barrister asked the defendant whether Ms Henry was "some kind of lethal killing machine". The defendant replied that she was very good and capable of doing unimaginable things.

Donnelly's former girlfriend Stacey Campbell, who had a child with the defendant, said Luke called to her home in Drogheda on the morning before his mother was found dead.

She said that when Ms Henry, who was staying with her at the time, answered the door, Donnelly told her: “I’m Jesus Christ, just let me in.”

Campbell said she immediately contacted gardaí as she was concerned Luke's mental health was deteriorating and wanted him to be “lifted” so he could receive help.

Asked by the prosecution about Donnelly’s behaviour at the time, Campbell said he “wasn’t in a right state of mind for a long, long time”.

“He was just not the same person. It was like he was losing his mind as the weeks went on,” said Ms Campbell. “He was saying he was Jesus.”

Ms Campbell said Ms Henry had cancer and Donnelly said he had cured her.

In cross-examination, Ms Campbell told the defence that Donnelly would “do anything” for his mother.

CCTV footage showed that Donnelly left the house, got a bus to Dundalk and he made his way to his mother's apartment on Bridge Street, where he had been occasionally living. The jury heard that Ms Henry returned to her apartment an hour later around 9.45am on May 23 but was "never seen alive again".

Closing speeches

In his closing speech Garret Baker SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said Donnelly had tried to "float like a butterfly" by telling a jury that he "snapped" and was in fear for his life when he killed Ms Henry.

The prosecutor suggested to the jury that "on a sensible evaluation of the evidence" their verdict ought "to sting like a bee".

Counsel also pointed out that the deceased was a 62-year-old grandmother, a cancer survivor, a heavy smoker and had traces of a sleeping tablet in her system. "Let's call a spade a spade: she never had a chance," argued Baker.

However, the jury agreed with the defence contention that Donnelly's relationship with his mother "was a tale of two existences".

"The relationship on one level was a good one and loving. On another level, it was a complex relationship; sad and disturbing in many respects," said Conall MacCarthy SC.

The defence lawyer reminded the jurors in his closing address of a previous account from his client, where Ms Henry had used a butcher's knife on him in 2020. "He tried to force it out of her wrist. When you fall to consider the events of May 23rd, that is the context in which all this came to pass".

He said Donnelly had a "sudden and total loss of self-control" when his mother took a step forward and screamed in his face that he was "the son of the devil". Counsel submitted this was "the gravest of things to say" in the context of how the accused had been representing himself to be Jesus Christ.

The defence lawyer submitted that what had happened to the defendant, his father and his siblings over the years was "all running through his head" in that moment and that Donnelly had reacted to protect himself from this.