Psychiatrist tells attempted murder trial accused has a mental illness

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

Tomas Gajowniczek has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his partner, Alicja Kalinowska, and to intentionally or recklessly causing her serious harm. Both charges relate to an alleged incident at their home on 16 June 2016.

The proceedings were reported on 19 April 2018. The trial was continuing at the Central Criminal Court.

The report said Gajowniczek denied trying to murder Kalinowska by stuffing underwear in her mouth and hitting her with a hammer. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Conor O’Neill told the trial that Gajowniczek had a mental illness that made him unable to refrain from his actions and that he qualified for a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

O’Neill told defence counsel Ronan Munro SC that Gajowniczek had a delusional disorder. He said Gajowniczek believed his partner was trying to drug or poison him and his baby; the doctor described that belief as delusional.

Munro said the prosecution would argue that his client was not mentally ill but had been smoking hash and got angry. O’Neill said he had considered that possibility, but Gajowniczek still showed the same symptoms and beliefs after a year in a drug-free prison unit. He said cannabis use at the time was possible or even likely, but did not preclude a mental illness diagnosis.

The trial heard that Gajowniczek told gardaí he had “exploded” because he believed Kalinowska was poisoning his food. During an interview on 16 June 2016, he requested a blood sample to establish what was in his system. Garda Colm Reynolds said no sample was taken and he had not considered it relevant to the investigation at the time.