An amateur kickboxer who kicked his mother to death in a violent attack that he said took just five seconds has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Luke Donnelly, aged 29 and of no fixed abode, denied murdering but admitted killing his mother, Catherine Henry, at her apartment on Bridge Street in Dundalk on 23 May 2023.
He was found not guilty of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
The jury accepted his defence of provocation after he told them he had "lost it" when his mother lunged at him on the day of the killing.
Donnelly had taken a cocktail of drugs in the hours before the killing and for six months before he had been telling people he was Jesus Christ, the son of God.
He said his mother told him that day that he was useless, no good to her and that he had only come to her home for her money.
He said he told her he was Jesus Christ and had come back to take care of her but that she had screamed into his face he was the son of the devil.
During his trial he said he had been groomed into a life of violence and drugs by an abusive mother.
He also said that he and some of his siblings were mentally and physically abused by their mother.
However, other family members disagreed with him.
In victim impact statements they described how their grief and loss was made worse by the way she was portrayed during the trial.
Catherine Henry was 62 years old
Catherine Henry's other son Robert Donnelly said his mother was "the best" and what his brother Luke took from them could never be replaced.
He said the family was devastated by her death, and he was sickened by attempts to blame his mother for what happened.
"There is no way anyone can blame her for this. She took him in when no one else would," he said.
He said their mother gave them hot meals every day, provided everything for them adding, "everything she did, she did for her children".
The victim’s other son Jonathan said the loss of their mother had devastated the family adding "despite what was said she was a loving mother, a single mother of seven, raising them in a council estate… I could not have done a better job under the circumstances".
He said her death had left "a permanent void of pain and regret, losing our mother in such a horrendous manner".
He also said that his brother’s behaviour after the killing, denying what he did for three years and delaying her burial, had prolonged and added to their grief.
"Sixteen children have no grandmother because of Luke," he said, adding that while their mother had made mistakes throughout her life, the person described by the accused and others in court, was not a reflection of her.
'Brutal and senseless'
The victim’s sister Elizabeth Kenny said she believed that when the trial began, she would be able to let her sister rest in peace but instead "the opposite happened".
"It felt as though Catherine was the one on trial for her role as a mother and that was difficult for me to hear."
She said there was a complete lack of remorse shown and lies told about her sister who was a "deeply loving person", who loved her children unconditionally and adored her grandchildren.
She described the "extraordinary care" Catherine had given to another sister while she was ill because she was "selfless and kind, always putting others before herself".
She said Catherine had loved Luke and tried to protect him, and yet her life was taken in a "brutal and senseless way".
His lack of remorse had deepened their pain, she added.
A letter of apology was read out by defence counsel Conall McCarthy during the sentence hearing earlier this month, in which Luke Donnelly accepted full responsibility for what he had done and the suffering caused to his family.
He said he had committed the offence at the age of 26, and it felt like he was a completely different person.
He had undertaken a programme of education including a Leaving Cert exam, a Gaisce award and was moving towards an Open University degree in prison.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said today that Luke Donnelly was a fit young man trained in fighting techniques who had attacked his mother in her own home after she had allowed him to live with her.
He said his drug abuse had contributed to his state of mind, and it was "a worrying feature" that he had walked over his mother’s body, gathered items and left her unaided.
He never sought any help for her and didn’t tell anyone else what he had done.
He also took items from the house, including her phone and tried to dispose of them.
However, the judge also said that Luke Donnelly had pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and had complicating emotions arising from a history of abuse versus love for his mother.
He was homeless at 14 years of age and taken in by his sister, and has no convictions for violence
Judge Mc Dermott sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years in prison with the final year suspended for two years.
Afterwards some family members became upset and shouted at Luke Donnelly as he was being…
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