Murder trial hears accused suffers from three mental disorders

ACCUSED Alan Cawley arriving at Swinford District Court in 2013, when he was first charged with the murders of Tom and Jack Blaine. Pic: Keith Heneghan/Phocus
 

Cawley’s family noticed his behaviour changing ‘post vaccination’, at around four to six months of age, says Psychiatrist for defence

Natasha Reid

A psychiatrist had told the Central Criminal Court this afternoon (Tuesday) that a Ballina man, who is accused of murdering two Castlebar brothers in their home, had three separate mental disorders and these would have diminished his responsibility when he attacked the two men.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Pawan Rajpal was giving evidence for the defence on Tuesday afternoon at trial of 30-year-old Alan Cawley.
Mr Cawley of Four Winds, Corrinbla, Ballina, has admitted killing Thomas Blaine (69) and John (Jack) Blaine (76). However, he has pleaded not guilty to murdering them on July 10, 2013, at New Antrim Street in Castlebar.
Dr Rajpal told Caroline Biggs SC, defending, that he studied the accused man’s medical records going back to his childhood and that he also interviewed the accused and then his parents.
The British doctor noted that the Cawleys had described his behaviour changing at around four to six months of age, post vaccination. They recalled lots of screaming and that he did not like physical touch.
They said he’d begun banging his head at one year and, by age two, was crying so much that he had to be sedated by a GP.
Between the ages of five and 12 years, he was setting fires and attracting frequent complaints from neighbours about cruelty to animals.
He noted from the defendant’s medical records that he had first seen a psychologist at the age of four and had been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) at the age of eleven. He had spent six months in hospital at that time.
He noted that Mr Cawley had later also been diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder. Dr Rajpal said he was satisfied that he was suffering from all three diagnoses at the time of the offences.
“He’s less able than people who don’t have these diagnoses to control impulses, less able to learn from past mistakes,” he explained.
He said that all were classified as mental disorders in the two main international manuals used by psychiatrists. He said that he was also satisfied that all three were mental disorders and diseases of the mind under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006.
He said ADHD symptoms, including low impulse control and low frustration tolerance, had persisted into adulthood and played a role in the offence.
He added that all three disorders would have diminished his responsibility for his actions in more than a trivial or minimal way.

Less control
“He would have less control over his actions because of these diagnoses. It’s impulsivity that would have played a role in the incident,” Dr Rajpal said.
“I have requested the court to consider this act,” he added, referring to Section 6 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006, which allows a jury to find a person not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The trial earlier heard that blood on a ceiling and walls indicated that one brother was on his bed and the other was lying on the ground when assaulted.
Dr Alan McGee of the serious crime team at Forensic Science Ireland testified that he visited the Blaine home on the day of the killing.
The forensic scientist told Tony McGillicuddy SC, prosecuting, that Tom Blaine’s body was lying face-up on a bedroom floor, with his legs on a heavily-bloodstained bed. As well as pools of blood in the room, there was blood on all four walls and airborne blood on the ceiling.
“The pattern of blood staining in the room indicated that he was assaulted while he was on the bed,” he testified.
He noted that Jack Blaine was found lying face-up on the ground in the back yard. There was a rusted shovel head next to his head, with a black walking stick and a heavily bloodstained wooden handle lying beside his body.
He observed ‘airborne blood staining’ on a nearby bin and chair and on a wall adjacent to his head.
“The pattern of blood staining in the backyard indicates that Jack Blaine was assaulted as he lay on the ground,” he explained.
He found DNA profiles matching both brothers’ on the bloodstained end of the wooden handle. He identified a DNA profile matching Jack Blaine’s on blood on the shovel head and walking stick.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Coffey and a jury of four women and eight men.