Dragos Nica found not guilty by reason of insanity, committed to hospital

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Dragos Nica was found not guilty by reason of insanity on 3 February 2016 on a charge of murdering Michael Gannon. Mr Justice Tony Hunt committed him to the Central Mental Hospital at the Central Criminal Court on 15 February 2016. The proceedings were reported on 15 February 2016.

Nica had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder. The charge concerned the killing of Gannon, 55, at Mourne Park, Skerries, Co Dublin, on 14 November 2013.

The jury had been told that Gannon was babysitting his daughter’s two young children and a neighbour’s child. He was making dinner when a child said a man was looking through the living-room window. Gannon opened the door and Nica stabbed him to death, the jury were told. The court heard that Nica delusionally believed he had been deliberately poisoned by Gannon’s daughter.

Dr Sally Linehan told State counsel Patrick Treacy SC that Nica suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. She said he continued to express abnormal beliefs, acknowledged benefiting from medication and remained in a secure unit receiving multidisciplinary treatment.

The judge said Nica required treatment in a designated centre and needed medication under supervision rather than administering it himself. He said the special verdict was the only verdict available to the jury.