A sister of a man accused of murdering a garda has told a jury that she knew her brother was “very unwell” the day before the shooting and her family planned to have him admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
arian Bruen said she “knew immediately” that her brother, Stephen Silver, was not himself during a phonecall on June 16, 2020. She said there were numerous “red flags” during that call.
The court also heard today that Mr Silver told “a fib” to a psychiatrist when he said he didn’t know whether Garda Colm Horkan had said “Arda” or “garda” as he got out of his patrol car.
Mr Silver (46), a motorbike mechanic from Aughavard, Foxford, Co Mayo, has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Garda Horkan (49) knowing or being reckless as to whether he was a member of An Garda Síochána acting in accordance with his duty at Castlerea, Co Roscommon on June 17, 2020.
He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and the jury have been told the main issue in the trial is Mr Silver’s state of mind at the time of the shooting.
Giving evidence to defence counsel Maurice Coffey today, Ms Bruen, a primary school teacher, said she had a 15 minute phonecall with Mr Silver on June 16, 2020.
“I knew immediately almost on the phonecall that he wasn’t himself. As any family member of someone with mental illness knows you have to be adept at spotting the signs and that phonecall had numerous red flags for me,” she said.
She said Mr Silver told her he was in Dublin and she noted his tone of voice and his turn of phrase were not usual for him.
She said the topics of conversation “changed erratically” and he sounded relaxed one moment and “really, really stressed” the next.
She said he also referenced seeing dead rats in Dublin and warned her not to come to the capital.
Ms Bruen said she knew he was “very unwell” and needed to go to hospital and that as a family they needed to do whatever they could to get him there. She said she spoke to her mother and they made a plan to convince him to go to hospital once he came home from Dublin.
Earlier today, under cross examination, prosecuting counsel James Dwyer SC put it to Dr Brenda Wright, interim clinical director at the Central Mental Hospital, that Mr Silver had told “a fib” when being interviewed by consultant psychiatrist Professor Harry Kennedy.
Mr Dwyer noted that whilst being interviewed by Prof Kennedy, Mr Silver said that when Gda Horkan got out of the car “he said ‘garda’ but I thought he said ‘arda’ because I asked him where he was from but it makes sense now that he said ‘garda’”.
Counsel said in his direct evidence to the jury, Mr Silver agreed that what he said to Prof Kennedy at that point was, in fact, “a fib”. He said Mr Silver appeared to have been well when he said it.
“The fact that Stephen Silver has apparently told Mr Kennedy a fib, does that cause you a concern in relation to the narrative he has given you?” he asked.
Dr Wright said that when assessing a patient she would look for collateral information because sometimes the narrative received from the patient can be inaccurate. She said there could be a number of reasons for this including illness, inaccurate memory or the possibility that that patient is deliberately misleading the interviewer. “That is something I would have to consider,” she said.
She said she was not aware that Mr Silver said the confusion of “arda” and “garda” was a fib.
“While that is of note, it goes back to the practice of gathering as much information as possible,” she said, adding this includes medical records, the book of evidence and accounts given by witnesses. “All of that has to be taken into consideration.”
When pressed by Mr Dwyer who asked if it would not be “of concern” that Mr Silver had “told a fib to a psychiatrist”, Dr Wright said it would be of concern if that was all the information available.
She said in considering Mr Silver’s mental state and medical history she reviewed a large amount of data and “taking it on balance, it doesn’t change my view of the diagnosis of Mr Sliver’s mental state at the time of the shooting”.
The psychiatrist also told Mr Dwyer that she disagreed with Prof Kennedy’s view on purposeful action and that Mr Silver’s ability to carry out a complicated sequence of actions could lead to an inference that he had the capacity to form purposeful intent.
She said patients who are psychotic or mentally unwell are capable of carrying out quite complex actions. While it was clear that Mr Silver had fired the gun this “doesn’t allow us to assume that his capacity was intact”.
“My view is Mr Silver was mentally unwell at the time of the shooting and as a result his thinking and judgment were impaired.”
Dr Wright agreed with Mr Dwyer that during garda interviews Mr Silver had the capacity to be alert and to stand up for himself, however she said he was also behaving in quite a bizarre and incongruent manner at times.
The trial continues.
