Laura Kenna trial ends without verdict on attempted murder charge

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

A jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict in Laura Kenna's trial for the attempted murder of Fionnuala Bourke. The proceedings were reported on 24 October 2018.

Kenna had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to attempting to murder Bourke on Lower Drumcondra Road, Dublin, on 3 January 2017. She also denied a charge of assault intending to cause serious harm.

The jury heard that Kenna attacked Bourke with a knife, slit her throat and took her handbag. The jury was also told that Kenna had suffered from schizo-affective disorder and experienced psychotic delusions and hallucinations.

Prosecution expert Professor Harry Kennedy said Kenna knew the attack was wrong and was not suffering from delusions at the time. He said she had obtained a knife to rob someone and selected Bourke as her victim. Defence expert Dr Stephen Monks said Kenna could not have stopped herself and had been labouring under delusions about killing people for a long time before the attack.

Two weeks before the attack on Bourke, Kenna had stabbed another woman in the face with a pen at a Luas stop. She was later found not guilty by reason of insanity for that offence. Kennedy said there was independent evidence that she had been responding to hallucinations during that incident.

After deliberating for almost five hours, the jury could not reach a majority verdict and was discharged. The case was adjourned to 26 November 2018, when the Director of Public Prosecutions was to indicate whether a retrial would be sought.