A woman who suffocated her three children has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
Deirdre Morley killed nine-year-old Conor, seven-year-old Darragh and three-year-old Carla McGinley at their home on 24 January 2020.
They were found by their father Andrew McGinley who is originally from Donegal Town.
44-year-old Mrs Morley was suffering from a severe psychotic depressive illness at the time and believed the children had been irreparably damaged by her illness and her parenting.
The jurors had been told by Mr Justice Paul Coffey that the evidence was all one way. He said there was no contest about what the verdict should be in what he described as a “sad and tragic case.”
Before they reached their verdicts, the ten men and two women were told they must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Ms Morley was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killings.
They also had to be satisfied that she did not know the nature and quality of what she was doing, or did not know what she was doing was wrong or was unable to stop.
He said if they were satisfied that any one of those three grounds was fulfilled, that would be enough to find her not guilty by reason of insanity.
The expert witnesses called on behalf of the prosecution and defence were unanimous that Ms Morley was legally insane when she smothered and killed her three children.
There was no dispute between the sides the judge said, and therefore nothing to set against the doctors’ opinion that insanity applied to all three counts.
Unusually, he said, there was no controversy and both prosecution and defence agreed that Ms Morley should be found not guilty by reason of insanity on all three counts.