Family of prisoner who strangled cellmate tried to have him committed

The family of a prisoner who scalded his cellmate with boiling water before strangling him had tried to get him committed before his fatal attack and had contacted gardaí with concerns that there might be "an incident" if his mental health further deteriorated, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Meanwhile the victim's family, in an impact statement to the court, described him as a "gentle soul" who was the "apple of his mother's eye", adding that his mother died of a "broken heart" before the case came to trial.

Michael Connolly (55), of no fixed abode, scalded Mark Lawlor with hot water using a borrowed kettle from a next-door cell before strangling him. He was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in August.

Connolly had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Lawlor by reason of insanity.

The jury had heard that Connolly, who is originally from Louth, believed that Mr Lawlor (37), from Drumcondra, had “some kind of exalted identity like a king” and was "a kingpin of Dublin" when he killed him in a cell in the prison.

The jury had been told that a disagreement on the findings of two psychiatrists was “the nub of the case” over whether or not Connolly was sufficiently mentally ill to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

At the Central Criminal Court on Monday, October 8, Mr Lawlor's sister, Sharon Brennan, read an emotional victim impact statement to the court, written by her father, Sean, on behalf of the family.

Ms Brennan said the family's lives were "shattered" on the day they were informed of Mr Lawlor's death.

She said that her brother's mental health had deteriorated before his death and that he had been taken away from the family while in the prison system.

Ms Brennan said that her brother had a "gentle soul" and a "heart of gold" and that "all of our lives were changed" by his death.

She said that Mr Lawlor was the only son in the family and was the "apple" of his mother's eye, "who died of a broken heart after Mark's death".

She read that the family hoped that "justice be served for the people of Ireland", adding that the Lawlor family "should never have had to go through the pain of losing our son in the way that Mark died".

In outlining the evidence heard at the trial, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Tony McGillicuddy SC, said that the attack took place in Cloverhill Prison on the night of Friday, November 22, 2019, into the early hours of Saturday, November 23, 2019.

Mr McGillicuddy said Mr Lawlor and Connolly had both been remanded to the prison on unconnected matters and the two men were alone sharing the three-prisoner cell on the night.  

Mr McGillicuddy said that at 11.35pm on the night, a call light was activated by prisoners in the adjoining cell, who heard a scuffle and someone calling out “Davey” or “David”. The prisoners thought it was Mr Lawlor and that he sounded hoarse and may have been choking.

A prison officer responded and when he looked into the cell, he saw Connolly on top of Mr Lawlor with his hands around his neck. The cell door was opened and prisoner officers took Connolly off Mr Lawlor. Mr Lawlor was pronounced dead at 12.55am. 

Counsel said a psychiatrist found that Mr Connolly had delusional beliefs, including that the prisoners were in league with prison officers in “a homosexual conspiracy”. Mr McGillicuddy said the psychiatrist noted that Mr Connolly had formed the delusional belief that Mr Lawlor had “some kind of exalted identity, like a king”.  

The barrister said prison officer Adrian Richmond gave evidence that when he looked into the cell, he saw Connolly on top of Mr Lawlor and that Mr Connolly showed no reaction to the light of his torch shining into the cell and that he also made no sound. Mr McGillicuddy said the officer's evidence was that it was as if the accused was in a "trance" when removed.

Colm Burke, an assistant chief prison officer, gave evidence that he saw Mr Lawlor lying on the bed with a chair across his chest and Connolly lying across the chair with his hands around Mr Lawlor’s neck.  

Mr Burke said he saw blood smears on the window in the cell and on the wall, and that directly under Mr Lawlor’s head there was “a massive pool of blood”.  

Detective Garda Inspector Darragh Kenny confirmed to Mr McGillicuddy that a post-mortem revealed that Mr Lawlor had sustained multiple superficial burns with blistering on his face, neck and arms, which were consistent with having been scalded by having boiling or hot water thrown at him at him. The detective told Mr McGillicuddy that the kettle had been borrowed from a next-door cell by Connolly.

Det Insp Kenny said that Connolly had also used the kettle itself "as a weapon" to attack Mr Lawlor and that blood had also been found on it.

Mr Lawlor was placed in a recovery position, attended to and CPR was performed but he was pronounced dead at 12.55am on November 23, 2019.

Over the course of four interviews, Connolly admitted that he caused the death of Mr Lawlor and had poured the scalding water over him to "get an advantage" before getting on top of Mr Lawlor.

Mr McGillicuddy said that Connolly returned to Ireland from the US around 2007 and then engaged with mental health services from around 2012. Mr McGillicuddy said the "nub" of the case for the jury was the evidence of two consultant psychiatrists, who differed on whether or not Connolly was mentally impaired enough to have a possible verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Det Insp Kenny said Connolly was being held in Cloverhill at the time for a suspected arson attack on a Louth B&B and that he had two previous convictions, one for criminal damage and one for the possession of an axe.

Mr McGillicuddy said it was the prosecution's submission that the offence committed by Connolly fell into the higher bracket for sentencing which would result in a sentence between 10 and 15 years. 

Defence barrister Donough McDonough BL said his client had studied furniture-making in Dundalk Institute of Technology for a year, emigrating to the UK and then the US before returning in 2008.

Mr McDonough said Connolly had received a fully-suspended sentence in 2013 for attacking what he believed to be "blasphemous" art works in a Louth church gallery with an axe and was then admitted to a mental health institution in Ardee, Co Louth.

Mr McDonough said Connolly's sister had been attempting to get him committed to an institution before his attack on Mr Lawlor and had contacted gardaí by phone and email about her concerns that there might be an incident if Connolly's mental health further deteriorated. 

Counsel said Connolly had admitted his actions caused the death of Mr Lawlor, had co-operated with gardaí, expressed his remorse and apologised to the Lawlor family.

Mr McDonough said Mr Lawlor was "entirely blameless" in the matter and had done "nothing wrong". Counsel also commended the Lawlors for "as dignified a victim impact report as I have ever heard".

Mr McDonough submitted to Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford that his client would endure a "more onerous" time in prison due to his mental health issues and asked for the judge to take this into account when sentencing. Counsel said that Connolly had come from a "difficult background" and that his suffering of serious mental illness reduced his culpability in the death of Mr Lawlor.

Ms Justice Lankford said she would need time to consider the matter for sentencing in what she described as an "important" case and offered her condolences to the Lawlor family.

Ms Justice Lankford then adjourned the matter to October 27 for sentence.

Evidence at trial

The trial heard that a post-mortem revealed two lacerations to the back of Mr Lawlor’s scalp, which may have been caused by a sharp edge such as his head being struck against the bar or leg of the bed. He suffered manual strangulation and straddling of the chest, causing asphyxia leading to death.  

Detective Garda Ronan Coffey gave evidence at the trial to Fionnuala O’Sullivan BL, prosecuting, of Garda interviews with Connolly, in which Connolly said he thought Mr Lawlor was “a kingpin of Dublin”.  

“I thought I would get revenge. I thought of boiling the kettle and pouring it over him; I thought it would be enough, but it escalated to murder. Cloverhill is as bad as Shawshank, they’re all at it,” the accused told gardaí.  

Det Gda Coffey went on to confirm to defence counsel Michael Bowman SC that Connolly also made references to the Norse god Odin, Jewish conspiracy and to the Catholic Church.  

Prosecution consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Stephen Monks gave evidence to Mr McGillicuddy that Mr Connolly’s first contact with the mental health services was in 2013, and he was assessed as being psychotic due to substance-induced psychosis.

Dr Monks said that Mr Connolly was again admitted to the mental health services in 2015 after he set fire to his own house, and on that occasion the diagnosis was schizophrenia. Dr Monks said that in 2019, the accused’s diagnosis was schizoaffective disorder.  

Dr Monks gave evidence that following the killing of Mr Lawlor, Mr Connolly was assessed by a psychiatrist who said Mr Connolly had apparent thought disorder. Dr Monks said that his colleague Dr Brenda Wright said Mr Connolly presented as “floridly psychotic” at that time.  

In her charge to the jury, Ms Justice Lankford said that in order to meet the criteria for a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, the jury had to be satisfied that the accused did not know the nature and quality of the act, did not know that what he was doing was wrong, or was unable to refrain from committing the act.    

The judge said that both consultant psychiatrists agreed that Mr Connolly was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of these events, and they both agreed with the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, but they disagreed on the matter of whether he was entitled to the defence of the "special verdict" of not guilty by reason of insanity.  

Ms Justice Lankford said that while Dr Monks said that the accused did not understand the nature and quality of the act, Dr Linehan said that, after reviewing the accused’s interviews with the gardaí, she found he understood he had killed another person.  

“This is the most significant issue you must resolve. The nub of the case is which psychiatrist’s evidence do you prefer,” the judge told the jury.

Ms Justice Lankford went on to say that Dr Linehan had given evidence that it would be appropriate for the jury to consider a verdict of guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.  

On August 1 last, after almost four-and-a-half hours of deliberation, the jury returned at 10-2 verdict that found Connolly guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.