A jury has found Henry McGowan not guilty of murdering his father by reason of insanity. 

The court heard from two consultant psychiatrists that the 31 year old was suffering from schizoaffective disorder when he killed John McGowan in 2024 in a Laois hotel. 

Both professionals said Mr McGown met all three criteria needed for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity; he did not know the nature of his actions, he did not know it was wrong and he could not stop himself from doing it. 

US citizen Henry McGowan was travelling around Europe when he met a friend in London, who quickly became concerned about his friend’s mental health. 

He contacted the McGowan family in America and it was decided that John would fly out to help him. It was, the jury heard, a “mission of mercy”. 

After learning that Henry was heading to Ireland, John booked a ticket to Dublin, met his son and the pair checked into the Ballyfin Demesne hotel together. 

Hours later, John McGowan was dead. 

 On Newstalk Breakfast, criminologist Trina O’Connor said people who are detained for mental health reasons are treated differently to those convicted of crimes. 

“It's treatment over punishment in this case under the Criminal Law and Sanity Act of 2006,” she explained. 

“What happens is you're committed under this Act due to a mental disorder. 

“And it's proven in court that you're unable to know it was wrong or understand the nature of your actions.

“So the person is fit to stand trial, but was insane at the time of the offence.”

Care for the individual

Patients found guilty by reason of insanity are taken to the Central Mental Hospital for inpatient care. 

Detention can be indefinite and any release is based on an assessment which balances public safety and care for the individual. 

“When you go in, there's a medical assessment by the team,” Ms O’Connor added.  

“The detention is not for a fixed period - because it is treatment rather than punitive. 

“There's ongoing periodic reviews by the Mental Health Review Board and that's to ensure that there's a compliance with human rights for the patient.” 

Once released into the community, an individual is still subjected to a number of strict conditions devised to protect them and the public. 

“If you are going to be released, it's a supervised release - so, it would be conditional,” Ms O’Connor said. 

“You'd see that lots of people would be released on conditions. 

“In this case, it would be conditional on ongoing treatment, usually monitoring and usually supports. 

“So, it's not that you're just released back into the general public without a treatment plan and a treatment care and an ongoing supervision.” 

'Great dignity and courage'

Following the verdict, Mr Justice Paul McDermott praised the McGowan family for the "great dignity and courage" they had shown throughout the trial. 

He added that they had tried to “do the right thing all along".

“As a family, I can't even imagine what it must feel like,” Ms O’Connor said. 

“Particularly because a lot of these cases and we do see it is family murders like we've seen a few over the years here, we've seen mothers murder their children.

“We've seen daughters murder their mothers. We've seen partners murder their partners.” 

On 20th February, the case will return to court and the judge will hear details of Mr McGowan’s proposed treatment plan.

Main image: Henry McGowan.