Triple murder accused told gardaí he only meant to kill father and brother, not mother, court hears

A man (32) accused of murdering three members of his family at their Co Louth home last year told gardaí that he only meant to kill his father and brother, but not his mother.Roisin Lacey SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said in her opening speech on Thursday that the accused told gardaí that he had a row over drugs and lost his head, killing his parents and his brother with special needs.When re-arraigned before the Central Criminal Court this afternoon, Robert O’Connor, of Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, Co Louth, pleaded not guilty of murder by reason of insanity or guilty of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility to the triple murder of his mother Louise O’Connor, his father Mark O’Connor and his younger brother Evan O’Connor at their home in Drumgowna between September 28th and 29th 2025, both dates inclusive. Opening the prosecution’s case, Lacey said the accused, Robert O’Connor, accepted he caused the death of the three victims in the case. READ MOREReferring to the accused man’s younger brother, Evan O’Connor, Lacey said he had very significant special needs, was severely autistic and had learning difficulties. Counsel said a carer had arrived at Drumgowna on the morning of September 29th when she saw the heavily bloodstained body of Mark O’Connor inside the front gate of the house. When the carer looked across at the house, she saw Evan’s body lying across the step of the patio door with blood on the bottom of his legs. The jury will hear that the carer got back into the car and drove to a neighbour’s house, where she called 999 at 9.38am that morning. Gardaí and members of the armed support unit arrived at Drumgowna later that morning.Lacey said the evidence will be that beside Mark O’Connor’s body was a beer bottle, an orange kitchen knife and a butter knife. The lawyer told the jurors that when gardaí entered the house sometime later, they observed Louise O’Connor’s body “equally heavily bloodstained” on the kitchen floor. Counsel said the jury would hear evidence from a neighbour who will say that he recognised the accused man’s voice coming from the O’Connor household on the night of September 28th saying: “I’ll end you, I’ll fu**ing end you.”Lacey said that when the accused was arrested on suspicion of killing his parents and brother he told gardaí: “I killed them; I killed my mother, father and my brother.” The accused man also told detectives: “I slashed my mother, she gave me a look and I could see a reflection of my dad in her face”. When asked why he had killed the three members of his family, counsel said that Robert O’Connor told gardaí he had a row over drugs, only meant to kill his father and brother, but not his mother and had “lost my head”. The accused man also told gardaí he had stabbed his brother Evan like a “blood bag”. Lacey said when the accused was in the back of a Garda car, he said he was “not sorry for his father or brother” but was sorry for stabbing his mother to death. Counsel said the jury would hear that the accused told gardaí he had been using cocaine lately and had bought some “Wildcat”, which counsel said is a slang word for mephedrone and is an amphetamine. Lacey said the evidence will be that the accused told gardaí that his parents had wanted to speak to him about his drug consumption but Robert O’Connor had told them he did not want to stop taking cocaine. There will be evidence that gardaí had observed the accused on foot walking in the direction of Tallanstown that morning. When they stopped the accused, he was highly aggressive and agitated and shouted at them: “I’m looking for ye”.When gardai asked the accused to show them his hands, he refused and shouted: “Shoot me, shoot me.” The accused’s hands were blood-stained at the time, the court heard.Counsel said the jury would hear that Mark O’Connor had 44 stab wounds, with nine of those to his head; that Louise O’Connor suffered 20 stab wounds, with eight to her trunk, while Evan O’Connor had 75 stab wounds, with 25 of those to his head and neck. Lacey will continue her opening speech on Thursday before Judge Mícheál P O’Higgins and a jury of six men and six women. The trial is expected to last until October 30th.