Overview
- The Central Criminal Court empaneled a jury of six men and six women and began hearing the case, which is scheduled to run for several days.
- Henry McGowan, 31, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the November 12, 2024 killing of his father, John McGowan, 66, at the five-star hotel in County Laois.
- Prosecutors told jurors that two consultant psychiatrists will testify the accused was suffering from a psychiatric illness or psychotic episode when the killing occurred.
- A post-mortem found John McGowan died from asphyxia due to manual strangulation with compression of the mouth.
- In Garda interviews, the accused admitted strangling his father, stating he loved him as he died and describing counting while choking him before the victim stopped breathing.