Man found guilty of manslaughter after fatal attack on Cork hospital patient (88)

Olivia Kelleher

A man who attacked a sleeping 88-year-old hospital patient, who then died of a heart attack in his bed, has been found guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Dylan Magee (33) went on trial this week at the Central Criminal Court in Cork. He had been charged with the murder of retired farmer Matthew Healy on January 22nd, 2023, at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in the city.

The men were placed in the same hospital ward but were not known to each other.

The jury took two hours and 33 minutes to reach its unanimous verdict following a three-day trial. Mr Magee was remanded in custody for sentencing at a later date. The case was put in for mention on January 12th next to set a date for sentence.

Victim impact statements and a probation report will be prepared in the interim. Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford thanked the jury for their service in a “difficult and traumatic case.” She excused them from jury service for a period of five years.

Mr Magee, through his Senior Counsel Brendan Grehan, expressed his “deep remorse” for the “distress” caused to the family and friends of the deceased.

Meanwhile, the jury of four women and eight men heard that retired farmer Matthew Healy went into hospital on January 13th, 2023 having suffered a fall at his home. His wife Delia had died earlier that month, having been cared for by her husband at the family home in Berrings, Co Cork.

The evidence was that Mr Magee of Churchfield Green, Churchfield in Cork, was admitted to hospital on January 19th, 2023, in a hallucinatory state. He was seeing dead people and hearing voices.

The father of three was on antidepressants for a month prior to his hospital admission. He had self-medicated with cannabis and claimed to have taken 120 benzodiazepines in the week before his hospital admission. A hospital toxicology screening also showed that he had morphine in his system.

Garda interview

When interviewed by gardai in the aftermath of the “frenzied attack”, Mr Magee said that a traveller had been tormenting people on the hospital ward. He admitted that he had “lost the plot” and started beating Mr Healy. He was of the mistaken belief that Mr Healy was a named person in his twenties and that he had “ate his son.”

He said that Mr Healy was asleep in the bed across from him when he started “punching him.” He stated that it felt like “his hand caved through his (Healy’s) face.”

“I hit him so many times. His face fell soft after. I kind of blanked out a small bit in a fit of rage. He was after kidnapping my son.”

He stated that he had probably hit Mr Healy “over 20 times” with his “knuckles in straight punches.”

He didn’t recall wandering around the hospital ward and going up to patients in the hours before the incident.

He said he was “seeing dead people” when he was brought to the GP prior to his hospital admission.

The jury also heard that in a garda interview on January 23rd, 2023, Mr Magee was talking to the wall instead of the investigating officers.

Closing speeches

In her closing speech to the jury, Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said that the jury might well be of the view that “both Dylan Magee and Matthew Healy were let down by the system.”

However, she called on them to be “dispassionate” in their approach to the evidence.

Defence barrister, Brendan Grehan, SC, in his closing speech to the jury, said that he couldn’t understand why Mr Magee was placed in a general ward.

“For reasons I don’t quite understand, Dylan Magee was put in a general ward with elderly patients. He was hallucinating. He was hearing voices and seeing dead people.”

Mr Grehan said that there was no rational explanation for the bizarre behaviour of Dylan Magee and that there was “clearly a mental disorder there.”

Meanwhile, Prosecution Senior Counsel Jane Hyland added that it was a “horrendous case” with a “tragic outcome.” She stated that both men had presented to hospital looking “for assistance” for medical issues.

Psychiatrist evidence

Defence psychiatrist Dr Stephen Monks said that Mr Magee’s GP had given him an urgent referral to MUH with suspected delirium. Dr Monks said he believed that the delirium evolved into withdrawal delirium.

“That is a life-threatening condition. Or it can be. He was in an acute state of delirium.”

Evidence was also given by Prosecution psychiatrist, Dr Richard Church, who said that Dylan Magee was very severely impaired to the point of being unable to refrain from acting in the manner in which he did. Mr Magee had denied murder but admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Mr Healy was a father of four and a grandfather of eight. Mr and Mrs Healy were predeceased by their daughter Christine, who drowned when she was a young child.

A funeral mass at St Mary’s Church in Berrings, Co Cork heard that Mr Healy was a “gentle” man who was proud of his family. Symbols of the life of the pensioner brought to the altar at the mass included a finger rosary, as faith was very important to Matthew and his late wife.