NORTH WEXFORD WOMAN FOUND NOT GUILTY OF MURDER BY REASON OF INSANITY
A County Wexford woman has been found not guilty of murdering her partner by reason of insanity.
Caroline Roche from Ballyedmond, Monamolin attacked 84 year-old Walter Plunkett at their home in 2012.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court reached its verdict after 24 minutes of deliberations.
Yesterday the trial heard from State Pathologist Doctor Marie Cassidy.
She said that Mr Plunkett’s death was due to ‘hypoxia due to trauma to the chest making respiration impossible’.
The jury also had heard that Caroline Roche – who’s 52 – suffered from schizo-affective disorder for many years – having been first admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1981.
The court was told that she had suffered religious and sexual delusions and believed she was in some way under threat by her partner.
