Broken kitchen knife found embedded in mother’s skull
A YOUNG man charged with the murder of his mother drank two bottles of wine while watching seven episodes of ‘Family Guy’ and then a Harry Potter film in the hours before the alleged attack.
The Central Criminal Court murder trial of Paul Horgan (27) heard that his mother, Marian (60), was found lying in a pool of blood at their Cork home with a large knife embedded in her head.
Mr Horgan he insisted to arresting gardaí he had absolutely no recollection of the fatal stabbing.
He denies the murder of his mother at the family home at Murmont Avenue, Montenotte, Co Cork, on November 23, 2015.
Mr Horgan’s father, Billy, also suffered serious injuries in the alleged incident that morning.
Judge Patrick McCarthy and the jury of nine men and three women were told by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster that Ms Horgan died from a major stab injury to her head.
The blade of the knife was embedded in her head when she was found by gardaí at the scene –with the blade sticking out the rear of her skull.
Dr Bolster said Ms Horgan died from shock and haemorrhage as a result a stab wound which penetrated the rear of her skull, severed her left jugular vein, travelled underneath her jawbone and lodged into her tongue.
“Significant force would have been required to inflict this (fatal) wound,” Dr Bolster said.
Detective Garda Mark Durcan saw two men forcibly restraining a bloodstained young man on the roadway at Murmont Avenue.
The court heard that local man Fergus O’Donoghue, who was holding Paul Horgan, said: “He is after stabbing his parents – I think his mam is dead.”
Detective Durcan went into the property and saw an injured Billy Horgan desperately ringing an ambulance for his critically injured wife.
Paul Horgan was arrested and taken to Mayfield garda station for questioning.
“I just remember pieces. I just remember this morning there was a guard and then the cell door,” he told officers.
“I was drinking to forget. I don’t remember anything after the second bottle of wine.”
The young man explained to gardaí that he drank only when he felt depressed. “Just on a bad day when I am feeling a bit depressed – it annoys me that I cannot talk to women. I am not even good on dating sites.”
Mr Horgan said he had spent the entire previous day in bed. He watched TV and, around 2am, took two bottles of wine which belonged to his mother and started drinking them.
He said he watched around seven episodes of ‘Family Guy’ and then a Harry Potter film.
“‘Deathly Hallows Part II’ is that last thing I can remember watching,” he said.
When informed his father said he had attacked both him and his mother with knives that morning, the young man expressed surprise.
“Two knives? That explains the cuts, I suppose. Knives? What the f***? I’ll probably get life. I never harmed anyone before. I don’t want to remember. If I remember that it will probably keep me awake (at night). How many times did I stab her?”
The trial continues.