Gareth Sheeran found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity

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

Gareth Sheeran was found not guilty of murdering his father by reason of insanity at the Central Criminal Court on 21 July 2023. The jury returned its unanimous verdict after 42 minutes of deliberation before Mr Justice Tony Hunt.

Sheeran had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his father, Harry Sheeran, at their address in Firhouse, Dublin, on Father’s Day, 20 June 2021. The proceedings were reported on 21 July 2023.

The jury heard that two psychiatrists agreed Sheeran was suffering from schizophrenia and did not know that what he was doing was wrong when he killed his father. Detective Garda Austin Larkin said Sheeran told gardaí he had attacked his father and stabbed him with a bayonet.

Defence psychiatrist Dr Ronan Mullaney said Sheeran was most likely suffering from acute psychosis at the time and believed his father was planning to have him killed. In the doctor’s opinion, Sheeran satisfied all three possible criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Mr Justice Hunt adjourned the matter to 25 August 2023.