Duffy says he’ll never forget car accident in which woman hurt
:: He tickled his children and then pressed down on their necks with his thumb :: ‘I kept going until they were dead and I kissed both of them on the foreheads’
‘I thought if I killed them they wouldn’t be upset’
A CHILD pleaded with his father, “Daddy, we can get you help, just don’t do it” as the man tried to murder him and his three siblings, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
The man, in his 30s, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his four young children and will be sentenced next week.
The stay-at-home father, who cannot be named, previously admitted to four counts of attempted murder at his family home in the south-east of the country on June 3, 2016.
The man’s four-year relationship with his wife had broken down the previous month. With a history of depression, he attempted to strangle two of his children and left them when he thought they were dead before moving on to the other two children in the next bedroom.
Detective Garda Fergus O’Brien told the sentencing hearing yesterday that the defendant’s father was minding other grandchildren nearby when his son arrived at 7.20pm saying: “I hurt the kids, I’ve done something stupid to the kids.”
The grandfather ran over to his son’s house and saw two of the children in the driveway and found the others in the main bedroom – one was crying and the other was unconscious. He contacted the emergency services and managed to revive one of the children.
Gardaí arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and an air ambulance was deployed.
Det Gda O’Brien agreed with Mr Burns that two of the children’s faces were purple and their eyes were blood-shot. They were gasping for air and had red marks on their necks.
The other two children were treated with oxygen by paramedics in their bedroom and one was in a critical condition. They were later accompanied by their mother in a helicopter to the hospital.
The father-of-four was located by gardaí and he told them he was planning on killing himself when he found out his wife was going on a date that evening. He did not want his children upset that he had taken his life. “I thought if I killed them they wouldn’t be upset. I thought I had to do it,” he said.
The man said when he went to strangle two of his children, they looked at him and asked him what he was doing.
He told gardaí he had a history of depression and had been diagnosed with social anxiety. Det Gda O’Brien agreed with counsel the man has said he was trying to kill his children, saying: “I didn’t mean to do it, I thought it would make them happier.”
The man was arrested and a number of garda interviews were conducted. He said he was upset as his wife of four years was going on a date with another man who she had been texting since January.
The defendant said he had been crying that evening in his house and his children were worried about him.
He told gardaí he texted his wife and she had sent him a message saying it was “time to stop crying” and to tell the children “what he wanted”.
He said he started tickling two of his children in their bedroom and then his hands began to “strangle” them as he pressed down on their neck with his thumb.
“I kept going until they were dead and I kissed both of them on the foreheads and left them where they were,” he said.
Two other children were playing Xbox in their bedroom and they did not know what had just happened.
The man then grabbed two of them “at once” and put his hand up against them at the same time.
The man said to them that it was their mammy’s fault and one of them replied: “Daddy, we can get you help, just don’t do it.”
The court heard he did not have the energy to “hold any longer” on their necks and he let them go before getting help from his father. He had contemplated killing his children and his wife six years ago, the court heard.
When asked by gardaí if he was reckless taking his medication, he said he had been without tablets for a few days and was now only taking one a day.
He also told them he was going to stab himself repeatedly.
The reason this had happened was because he received a text from his wife saying it was time to stop crying and there was no point “letting it all hit you now”. He replied: “See you really don’t care about anyone but yourself, you will regret all of this.”
A medical report was read to the court in which the doctor said the four children’s injuries
were consistent with a serious assault by their father and there was clear medical evidence of an attempted strangulation by him.
A psychiatric report was also read to the court in which it said the children had suffered severe trauma that night and they had lost their safe environment.
Their world had been turned upside down overnight, Mr Burns read, and things would never be the same again.
Defence counsel Patrick Gageby SC told the court it was decided in 2009 that as the man was not working much he would devote his time to the children and their mother would work outside the home.
Under cross-examination by Mr Gageby, Det Sgt O’Brien agreed both parents were extremely attentive.
Mr Gageby said his client got depression in 2009 and got help in a local hospital.
It was clear he believed he had killed two of his children but soon came to his senses as his hands started to hurt him and he was not able to complete what he set out to do.
The mother-of-four took the stand and read a victim impact statement on behalf of her and the four children.
She told the court she would never forget receiving a “horrible voicemail” from her eldest child screaming and a Snapchat from them of one of her other children on the bed. “I knew in my gut something crazy had happened,” she said.
She said they were the bravest children one could meet and she was proud of them all.
Mr Gageby then read a letter of apology on behalf of his client in which he said: “Anything I say or do will not change what I’ve done... I want you to know how much I regret it and how sorry I am for putting my four beautiful children through this. The proudest moment of my life was the birth of my kids and they still continue to make me proud every day.”
Mr Justice Michael White remanded him in custody for sentence on October 17.
The man strangled two of the children, then left them when he thought they were dead and moved on to the other two in the next bedroom. He later told his father: ‘I’ve done something stupid to the kids’