Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STABBED 33 TIMES AS HE BEGGED FOR LIFE...
Mentally ill man killed his ‘best friend’ and then told sister of brutal attack
A PARANOID schizophrenic was high on a cocktail of cheap wine and medication when he “just couldn’t stop” stabbing his best friend to death, a court heard.
James Hughes “begged” and “pleaded for his life” as he was being attacked by his neighbour James Brendan Patrick Devine.
The 44-year-old was mentally ill when he stabbed Mr Hughes 33 times. He will be sentenced next month.
Belfast Crown Court heard a “remorseful” Devine was suffering “delusional beliefs” about his friend and next door neighbour when he stabbed him after breaking into his flat. The court was told the 44-year-old, from Divis Tower in West Belfast, has a considerable number of previous convictions for alcohol -fuelled violence, including stabbings.
He had been charged with murdering the “Good Samaritan” who had befriended him, but the charge was withdrawn when he pleaded guilty in June to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility. Prosecutor David Mcdowell revealed Devine was arrested by waiting police on November 6, 2016, as he left his sister’s home in Ballymoney, Co Antrim.
She alerted cops after telling them of her brother’s confession and that he “wanted to hand himself in”.
Defence QC Greg Berry said Devine’s continuing mental illness was at the “very core of this terrible and dreadful crime” and although remanded into prison he had to be moved to the secure facility at Knockbracken Health Care Centre where he remains today.
Mr Justice Colton was told Devine had travelled to his sister’s after initially phoning his mum to tell her he had “blood all over his coat”.
When asked why, he told her he had “stabbed a boy to death”.
Later he said to his sister he had stabbed his neighbour who was begging for his life, but that he couldn’t stop.
When initially arrested he was “compliant”, telling police: “I murdered him... I killed a man... I have to own up to it... I killed him because I had to.”
However, he later said his memory was “not great” given the level of his intoxication caused by taking his medication washed down with Buckfast wine.