This article is from page 4 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE MURDER of elderly farmer Jack Daly sent shockwaves through- out the quiet village of Belharbour, four years ago.
The 83-year-old was lying in his bed shortly before 7am on April 30, 2003, when he was attacked by his nephew.
John McInerney had been anxious the previous night and feared that the devil had been trying to get in to the family home, at Abbey West, Bel- harbour. His obsession with the devil ultimately cost his uncle his life. He believed the devil was in his defence- less uncle.
MclInerney’s mother Kathleen was worried about his behaviour in the hours leading up to the murder.
He had been admitted to Our La-
dy’s Psychiatric Hospital on March 18, 2003, after he had disappeared from his home and spent a night at Corcomroe Abbey.
A neighbour, Gerard Kerin, later found him there, standing on an altar and carrying a fork in his hand. He claimed he was trying to ward off the devil, who was taking over the altar.
He spent a month at Our Lady’s and was discharged in mid-April. On the night of April 29, he began to talk Vole) Ulm a slome (oa EB
Kathleen, who was 83 at the time, knew that something was not right the following morning when she heard her son going in to her broth- er’s room.
She was terrified and ran from the house. She later heard Jack saying, “I killed Jack”.
McInerney was arrested a short
time later and was questioned at En- nistymon Garda Station throughout the day.
He was charged with murder at a special sitting of Tulla District Court later that night. He pleaded guilty but insane to murder, at the Central Criminal Court in November 2004.
Medical experts for both the pros-
ecution and defence agreed that he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time. The jury returned a verdict of guilty but insane, without leaving the jury box. Mr Justice Paul Carney ordered his detention at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.
The inquest into the death has taken four years to be heard and in some way brings to a conclusion a very sorry chapter for the Daly and McInerney families, and for the peo- ple of the close-knit community of Belharbour.
Coroner Isobel O’Dea and Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy paid tribute to the wonderful neighbours of the Daly and McInerney families during this “traumatic” time.