A homeless deaf mute man who killed an acquaintance by knocking him under a bus has a “primitive personality” as a result of his communication difficulties, a court has heard.
A Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury previously found Edward Connors (30) guilty following an eight day manslaughter trial. He also admitted threatening two people with a syringe in separate incidents.
Eoghan Dudley (28) died almost instantly from “catastrophic and traumatic injuries” after going under the left rear wheel of the bus on Dawson Street during rush hour traffic.
Judge Patrick McCartan had adjourned the case to today after asking that Connors be assessed for rehabilitation services in the UK.
The court had heard previously that there are no specific rehabilitation services for deaf people in Ireland but that there are extensive treatment and rehabilitation facilities available for deaf offenders in the UK.
Connors, of no fixed abode and formerly of Bearna Park, Sandyford, admitted interacting with the deceased but claimed that what looked like a punch on CCTV footage is actually him trying to grab Mr Dudley to stop him falling off the path and going under the bus.
He had pleaded not guilty to unlawfully killing Mr Dudley on December 6, 2012.
Connors also pleaded guilty to two counts of using a syringe to cause injury or threaten to cause injury at Balally Shopping Centre, Sandyford on May 17, 2012 and at Lotts Lane on August 18, 2012.
Dr Brendan Thomas Monteiro, Consultant Psychiatrist in the field of Mental Health and Deafness, told the court today that there is a facility in the UK suitable to treat Connors. Judge McCartan ordered a further assessment to establish if Connors is a suitable candidate for this facility.
The judge said Connors has had an appalling deck of cards dealt to him in life and society now owes him something. He said that Connors was left unable to hear from a very young age and grew up in a family environment where there no prospect of learning of any sort.
He said as a result he now has what Dr Monteiro diagnosed as a “primitive personality”. He said if Connors does not get the treatment he needs he will revert to his old ways of living after he serves a prison sentence.
Dr Monteiro described Connor’s primitive approach to life combined with a reliance on heroin as “truly explosive” and that it was one such explosion which led to the death of Mr Dudley.
He said that Connors exhibited features of a primitive personality caused by his hearing problems.
This is a psychiatric diagnosis which identifies deaf people who were effectively without any usable language, as a result of which they become quite primitive in their behaviour, Dr Monteiro said.
He said that because of serious communication difficulties between them and parents, teachers or peers, this group of people do not acquire the same skills taken for granted in hearing children and develop without any social, moral or legal boundaries.
“His knowledge and understanding and ability to relate to others was seriously compromised” because of the deprivation of language, Dr Monteiro said.
He agreed with Ronan Kennedy BL, prosecuting, that since the trial Connors has refused to accept the guilty verdict, and maintains he is not responsible for the death of the victim and is unfairly in prison.
Judge McCartan ordered that Connors be further assessed by Dr Monteiro and that the State make inquiries about funding and legal issues regarding his treatment in the UK.
