Man accused of murdering his mother phoned his friend while she lay dead on the floor

Eoin Reynolds

A man accused of murdering his mother told gardaí that after finding the deceased lying on her back on her kitchen floor, he first phoned a friend and waited about 20 minutes before calling an ambulance.

Nigel Canavan (39), who denies murdering his mother Angela Canavan (58), told gardaí during interviews following his arrest that he panicked and didn't know what to do.

The Central Criminal Court trial also heard today that Mr Canavan told gardaí that he loved his mother and "everyone who knows me knows how much I loved her. I loved her dearly."

Mr Canavan, with an address at Erris Gardens, Crossmolina, Co Mayo, has pleaded not guilty to his mother's murder at her home in St John's Terrace, Co Sligo on May 1st 2023.

Gardai arrested Mr Canavan six days after his mother's death on suspicion of her murder and questioned him at Sligo Garda Station.

Det Gda Brian McMahon on Friday told prosecution counsel Conor Devally SC that during his interviews, Mr Canavan told gardaí that he was staying with his mother after separating from his wife a few weeks earlier.

On the night of her death, he said his mother was drunk and agitated and had been trying to pick a fight with him. He said she tried to stab her own legs with a knife, which he wrestled from her and threw away.

He also described pushing his mother onto the couch after taking the knife away before leaving the living room to go upstairs because he didn't want to argue.

When he heard a series of bangs or thuds from downstairs, he went to investigate and saw his mother lying prone on the ground.

He said he phoned his friend John Gannon to say that his mother was dead. He didn't know why he phoned Mr Gannon, and told gardai at the end of the interview: "I wish to add that I loved my mother. Everyone who knows me knows how much I loved her. I loved her dearly.”

In his next interview, he said that he called the ambulance about 20 minutes after finding his mother dead on the floor.
When asked why he waited, he said: "I panicked, I didn't know what to do." He described having "palpitations and panic attacks".

He added that before calling Mr Gannon, he may have tried to phone his then-wife, Claire Conroy. When gardaí put it to him that he had told a garda at the scene that he found his mother two hours before calling 999, he said he didn't remember saying that. He added: "I didn't leave my mother lying there for two hours."

In a later interview, he said: "I did not kill my mother, I was not in the room when these things happened." He said she was alive when he was in the room with her, and when he came back, she was dead.

When gardaí asked Mr Canavan to account for a bruise on his mother's arm, he said he didn't know what caused it and suggested it could have been her dog. When shown photographs of bruises to his mother's wrists, he demonstrated to gardai that after taking the knife from his mother, he grabbed her by both wrists and put her onto the couch.

Gardai showed a photograph of marks on Ms Canavan's neck. Mr Canavan said he had not seen those marks on his mother and added: "I don't know how that happened."

Det Gda McMahon told Mr Canavan that State Pathologist Dr SallyAnne Collis had confirmed that the deceased died from asphyxia.
Mr Canavan replied: "Why wasn't I told this? I was told it was inconclusive. I didn't kill my mother."

The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Kerdia Naidoo and a jury of ten women and two men.