Matthew Healy’s daughter stated he deserved to slide away from this world as gently and kindly as the person he was, not mendacity in mattress terrified.
Matthew Healy was described as a ‘true gentleman’ (Picture: Household handout)
A person who assaulted a sleeping 88-year-old hospital affected person who subsequently died of a coronary heart assault ought to obtain the “most sentence permitted by legislation”, his household have advised a sentencing listening to. Dylan Magee, 33, was discovered responsible of the manslaughter of “true gentleman” Matthew Healy by purpose of diminished accountability in December.
He had been charged with the homicide of the pensioner on January 22, 2023, on the Mercy College Hospital (MUH) in Cork, Eire. A trial on the Central Felony Courtroom sitting in Cork heard the lads, who did not know one another, had been positioned in the identical hospital ward.
Mr Healy was taken to hospital on January 13, 2023, after he fell away from bed and hit his head at residence in Berrings, Co. Cork. His spouse, Delia, had died earlier that month, the Irish Mirror stories.
Magee, of Churchfield, Cork, was admitted to the hospital six days later after a referral from his physician. He was in a hallucinatory state, seeing lifeless folks and listening to voices.
On an antidepressant for a month earlier than his hospital admission, Magee had self-medicated with hashish and claimed to have taken 120 benzodiazepines within the week earlier than he was admitted.
A hospital toxicology screening additionally revealed he had morphine and hashish in his system.
Jurors had been advised Magee had been positioned in the identical ward as Mr Healy and that shortly after 5am on the morning of January 22, 2023, Magee turned agitated, launching an assault on the aged affected person, who was asleep in one other mattress.
Matthew Healy, 89 (Picture: Garda Press Workplace)
Magee punched Mr Healy between 4 to 6 instances as workers tried to cease the assault. The thug struck Mr Healy an additional thrice earlier than workers managed to tug him away.
One nurse suffered a damaged finger whereas making an attempt to restrain Magee, who screamed: “This man ate my son.”
Questioned by gardaí after the assault, Magee claimed a person had been tormenting sufferers on the hospital ward, however no such individual existed.
He admitted he had “misplaced the plot” and began beating Mr Healy underneath the mistaken perception the pensioner was a named particular person in his twenties who had “ate his son.”
Each the defence and prosecution guide psychiatrists concerned within the case agreed Magee’s capability to restrain himself from finishing up the assault had been impaired.
Mr Healy’s daughter Claire described listening to of her father’s loss of life as a “sucker punch” at a sentencing listening to in Cork on Friday (March 27).
She stated: “After I heard he had been attacked by one other affected person, I used to be satisfied I should be trapped in a nightmare that I’d ultimately wake from. However I’ll by no means get up from that nightmare.”
Magee had self-medicated with hashish earlier than the assault (Picture: Garda Press Workplace)
She added: “My brother was burdened with the horrendous ordeal of getting to formally establish Dad’s crushed physique within the morgue. I used to be spared that trauma, but it surely additionally meant that I by no means acquired to say goodbye.”
Ms Healy stated her father deserved to slide away from this world as gently and kindly as the person he was not mendacity in mattress terrified, then choking on his personal blood after being crushed to loss of life by a person shouting he had eaten his kids.
She stated: “Phrases cannot categorical how traumatising it has been to find that the assault was carried out by somebody who went on a drug binge, suffered delirium from the withdrawal after which pleaded diminished accountability.”
Ms Healy characterised the decision of responsible of manslaughter by purpose of diminished accountability as being solely acceptable for “genuinely ailing people.
She stated: “Not for these struggling delirium attributable to self-induced drug withdrawal. We’re the product of our decisions and I’ll by no means settle for excuses suggesting the perpetrator was not chargeable for his actions. His personal life decisions led to him punching our Dad to loss of life.”
She requested that the courtroom impose the “absolute most sentence permitted by legislation” and said that no member of her household “ought to ever must worry crossing paths” with Mr Magee once more.
Ms Healy described her father as a “light soul” with a “lovely coronary heart”. She stated he would have been “completely petrified” at what was happening in his room on the Mercy Hospital, however would have been too well mannered to say something.
She additionally expressed her anguish on the conduct of the media within the aftermath of the tragedy, stating that headlines had been sensationalised and reported data was inaccurate.
Magee, represented by Senior Counsel Brendan Grehan, expressed regret for the struggling brought on to the household and mates of the deceased.
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Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford prolonged her condolences to the Healy household. She had beforehand remarked that one might fairly conclude each males had been failed by the system.
The decide indicated she would want time to deliberate on the sentencing. Magee was remanded in custody forward of sentencing on April 17.
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