Mohamed Morei pleads not guilty by reason of insanity to murder

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

Mohamed Morei pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering Yosuke Sasaki at Long Avenue, Dundalk, on 3 January 2018. The Central Criminal Court proceedings were reported on 11 December 2019.

Morei also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to assaulting Dylan Grehan at Quay Street and Cian Murphy at the Inner Relief Road, both in Dundalk on 3 January 2018, causing them harm. He entered the same plea to criminal damage of a car at Long Avenue that day and to burglary at Long Avenue between 2 and 3 January 2018, by entering a building as a trespasser and committing criminal damage.

Detective Inspector Martin Beggy told the trial that Morei’s claims of Isis links were incoherent and that there was no evidence of links to terrorism. He described the attacks as random.

Consultant psychiatrists Dr Brenda Wright and Dr Paul O'Connell told the trial that Morei had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Dr Wright said he believed he was morally justified in his actions and was unable to refrain from them; Dr O'Connell agreed with her conclusions.

In their speeches to the jury, Mr Gillane and defence barrister Michael Bowman SC both urged it to return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, describing it as the only verdict open on the evidence. Ms Justice Carmel Stewart was due to charge the jury on 12 December 2019.