Paul Cuddihy committed after murder insanity verdict

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

Paul Cuddihy, 38, was committed to the Central Mental Hospital for ongoing treatment on 14 November 2016. The proceedings were reported on 14 November 2016.

The report said that, two weeks earlier, a jury had found Paul Cuddihy not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering 55-year-old Maria O’Brien at St Otteran’s Hospital in Waterford on 5 September 2014. The jury returned the same verdict on charges of assault causing harm to fellow hospital resident Mary Nugent and nurses Breda Fennelly, Terry Hayes and Mary Grant.

Dr Damian Mohan, a forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, told the court he had assessed Paul Cuddihy following the verdict. He said Paul Cuddihy continued to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, had made little progress and did not accept that he was ill or needed help.

In his victim impact statement, Maria O’Brien’s son Patrick Halley said he accepted Paul Cuddihy had a mental illness but would “never forgive him for what he did to my mother”. Maria O’Brien’s brother Joe O’Mahony said the manner of her death had left him traumatised and suffering shock and lack of sleep.