Courts / Dublin / Report
'A tragedy of enormous proportions': Deirdre Morley found not guilty of murdering children
Summary
Paediatric nurse Deirdre Morley, 44, was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the murders of her three children, aged 9, 7 and 3. Two forensic psychiatrists testified that she suffered a mental disorder at the time of the killings and could not appreciate the moral wrongness of her actions or refrain from them. The jury accepted the defence's claim that the case was a "tragedy of enormous proportions" and returned three verdicts of not guilty by reason of insanity. The court ordered Morley to be committed to the Central Mental Hospital for psychiatric assessment, with a hearing scheduled for 31 May. No other verdicts or sentencing details were given in the article.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: 'A tragedy of enormous proportions': Deirdre Morley found not guilty of murdering children. Procedural stage: finding. Findings: Acquitted
When:
- January 23 Hearing Or Sentence
- January 24 Incident
- January 22 Other
- May 31 Hearing Or Sentence
- July 2019 Incident
- January 27 Other
- October 2018 Other
- November 2019 Other
- January 10 2020 Other
- January 26 Other
- January 20 Other
- March 2020 Other
- 2009 to 2020 Other
- 2021-05-20 Publication
Why: Ms Morley told gardaí that she was feeling "overwhelmed" at the time, her thoughts had been "getting darker" that week and she wanted to save her children from the "pain and suffering" she felt lay before them because of her shortcomings as a parent. CNI source report
Case subjects
Places mentioned
- Our Lady's Hospital
- Tallaght
- Tallaght Hospital
- Central Mental Hospital
- St Patrick's Hospital
- Central Criminal Court
Topics
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