Robert O'Connor found guilty of manslaughter over killing of his parents and brother

The verdicts

A Central Criminal Court jury has found Robert O'Connor, 32, of Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, Co Louth, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility over the deaths of his mother, father and brother. The verdicts on the three counts were unanimous. The jury deliberated for four hours and eight minutes over two days, and reports carrying the outcome were published on 4 November 2026. The jury began considering its verdicts on Tuesday, 3 November, shortly after 2pm.

The killings

The victims, his mother aged 56, his father aged 54 and his younger brother aged 27, were killed at the family home between 28 and 29 September 2025, both dates inclusive. The defendant accepted before the jury that he caused their deaths. The three victims sustained a combined 139 stab wounds: his father was stabbed 44 times, his mother at least 20 times and his brother over seventy times. In her opening speech the prosecutor described the central dispute as whether he was insane at the time.

What the court heard

Evidence before the jury included the defendant's account to gardaí that the attacks followed a row with his parents over drugs, and that his mother had asked him to spare his younger brother. The court was told he was not taking his schizophrenia medication and had been using cocaine in the months before the killings. He told officers he had meant to kill only his father and brother, not his mother. A pathologist testified that most of the younger brother's wounds were inflicted while he was still alive.

The psychiatric evidence

Two consultant forensic psychiatrists agreed that the defendant was suffering a relapse of schizophrenia at the time of the killings. Dr Fiona Toal, testifying for the defence, said he did not know that what he was doing was wrong and could not stop himself, and that he qualified for an insanity verdict. Dr Ronan Mullaney, giving evidence for the prosecution, said the defendant met the criteria for diminished responsibility but not for an insanity verdict. Both regarded manslaughter by diminished responsibility under section 6 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006 as an appropriate outcome. The panel accepted that psychiatric evidence. Defence lawyers had asked jurors to consider an insanity finding so that he could receive mental health treatment.

The judge's remarks

Mr Justice Mícheál P O'Higgins described the case as a sad and difficult one for the jury. He had given the panel copies of both psychiatric transcripts so jurors could weigh each expert's reasons for disagreeing with the other, and he told them their verdicts had to be unanimous. He also asked them to maintain an open mind. In his remarks on the killings he said:

“One could not but be shocked and revulsed by the killings of the family members of the O'Connor family”

He also expressed sympathy for the family members of the dead, for the surviving brother, and for close relatives and friends.