Jury resumes deliberations in Louth triple murder trial

A jury has resumed deliberations in the triple murder trial of a 32-year-old man charged with fatally stabbing his parents and special needs brother to death at their Co Louth home.

Robert O’Connor (32), of Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, Co Louth, has 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 (56), his father Mark (54) and his brother Evan (27) at their home between September 28th and 29th 2025.

The jury of six men and six women began considering their verdict shortly after 2pm on Tuesday at the Central Criminal Court.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Mícheál P O’Higgins reminded the jury to “maintain an open mind” and not to access extraneous information.

The Central Criminal Court jury has been told that the accused accepts he caused the death of the three victims, who had sustained a combined 139 stab wounds.

The panel have been told by the prosecutor in her opening speech that the “battleground” between the prosecution and defence in the trial is whether Robert O’Connor was insane at the time.

Before sending the panel on Tuesdau, O’Higgins said he had made a decision that the 12 jurors should have the psychiatric evidence in the case.

The judge said he did not want this evidence to overly dominate their discussions but yet he didn’t want to curtail them in any way. He said it would “be a good balance” if they were provided with four copies of the two transcripts of the psychiatrist’s evidence.

Mr Justice O’Higgins asked the panel to consider the reasons given by each psychiatrist for their conclusions and also the reasons each gave “for disagreeing with their counterpart’s analysis”.

The judge told the jurors that they must be unanimous in their verdicts.