'He collapsed beside my mum and grabbed her hand': Jury hears of Louth murder accused's garda interviews

Triple murder accused Robert O'Connor told gardai how after stabbing his special needs brother, he tried to walk him out of their Co Louth home before the victim collapsed beside his mother and held her hand.

The accused told detectives how he had "dragged" his parents and brother into the garden after stabbing them, but only realised he had done something "terrible bad" hours later.

The jury has already heard evidence that Robert stabbed his special needs brother Evan at least 70 times, with the majority of the wounds inflicted while he was still alive.

Mr O'Connor, 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 younger brother Evan (27) at their home between September 28 and 29 2025, both dates inclusive.

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The Central Criminal Court jury has been told that the accused accepts he caused the death of the three victims.

Detective Garda Shane O'Malley took John Griffin BL, prosecuting, through the second of the interviews with the accused.

Recalling that Sunday night, the accused said he was "running, doing laps" of the garden and pull ups. "One time I had a wheelbarrow filled with water and dragged mum out and the rest in the house and I had to run around until the water had evaporated into the magnetic field".

Robert said there was "a lot of stuff in the garden"; "just odd behaviour, like, I felt I was out in the garden a lot the other night".

When officers put it to him that he had taken his mother outside the house, the accused said he didn't think "she was first, it could have been my dad, I don't remember like....that's when it starts to get foggy...it was like a black out".

"I know they were all outside at different points, all three of them were outside, I didn't know who was who, which colour I had to save...all three outside," he continued.

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Gardai asked if his family had gone outside themselves or if he had brought them out.

"I definitely took them out. I tried to revive my mum at one point, but it would have been way too late," Robert said.

"I was going to throw one out, one going to get into heaven and one into hell...I had to open the gate for their souls to get out...I had to choose one to save and bring into the house," he continued.

Robert said he took his mother back into the house but for "the two boys, Evan, it was so hard to get out like". He stated he had taken his dad out to the garden first.

Asked whether the three O'Connors were deceased when he took them outside, Robert said he didn't think his mother was but he thought "she was getting there".

When gardai asked why his mother was not dead, the accused said he tried to "give her this like" at which point the garda indicated a CPR movement with his hands. Robert agreed, saying "like that, pushed down on her or whatever and it just released all the gas into my mouth".

The accused said he left Evan "right outside the door" and that Evan was deceased when he took him outside. "When I got him out to where my mum was, they were holding hands".

At one stage, the accused said: "Can we not talk about the violence at the minute, I know I was the one who did it but it's bothering me".

The accused said he did not call 999. "It sounds mad, but I only realised I had done something terrible bad hours later."

Robert said he hadn't performed CPR on his father or brother.

The accused said he had attacked his mother first and then his father "kinda charged towards me", before his mother asked to go to the toilet.

"I think I slashed mum on the head.... my brother was sitting there shocked, like nothing had happened....I told everyone to shut up and made everyone stand in a triangle," the accused explained.

"I was like 'no everybody' shut their mouths, everyone closed their eyes; don't look at me.....I had them in two spots. I had Evan at the front, took him around the back," he said.

The accused said his mother had tried to open the door and he pushed her back in. "I tried to get the iPad from Evan and that is when it clicked in my head that it was programming reality and they were going to use the algorithm to get out".

Robert said when he went back his father "charged towards the door and that is when it all happened".

In the third and final interview, the accused said he "obviously regrets what I did", adding "I cannot even deal with the flashbacks, it's driving me nuts, I'm trying to block them as they come in. I didn't mean to do it, I really didn't".

"Is that the murders?" asked the gardai, which the accused confirmed it was.

Robert asked the detectives if he could take a shower "to get this blood off me".

At another point, the accused said he thought his frame of mind when he "killed them" was because they were "mentally torturing" him.

Robert said he tried to get his mother out of the house "to save her soul". "I dragged her by the feet and then when we got to the stones I picked her up and lifted her over to the grass".

He said he wasn't fully sure if she was alive and was pretty sure she had died in the house. He clarified that he had carried her back into the house.

The accused said he had dragged "the lads" out of the house at different times. He said he "definitely" removed his father from the house first and brought him to the front gate at some point.

Robert said Evan was "the last one" to be brought out to the garden. "He was sitting in dad's chair, somehow made it over to mum and dads bedroom..I tried to walk him out of the house then he collapsed beside my mum and grabbed her hand".

The accused said he went upstairs afterwards and "paced" his bedroom for a while. "I got naked at one point, just to be clear I wasn't sexually aroused by what happened".

Robert told gardai he had consumed methodrone early on the Monday morning, which was later found on him. "I only consumed one dose, put it under my tongue, I'm surprised I'm not dead, it was probably my goal at the time".

Under cross-examination, Det Gda O'Malley agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that it appeared "the tragedy" had taken place in or around 6.30pm to 7pm on September 28 and at the time Mr Malone said in his statement that he had heard shouting coming from the O'Connor house.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Mícheál P O’Higgins and a jury of six men and six women.