A young Wicklow man has been found not guilty of murdering his mother by reason of insanity.
Bijan Afshar, of Killarney Road in Bray, beat Lynn Cassidy to death with a coffee mug in June 2014.
The jurors returned after deliberating for less than an hour.
During the three-day trial, they heard about Bijan Afhsar’s medical history as well as his family background and the events leading up the night he killed his mother.
Lynn Cassidy married his Iranian father in 1990 but they separated in 2008 – the same year he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.
The court heard he spent June 26th 2014 packing up his belongings. The family home was being sold and he told Gardai he called over to his mother’s house at the Deepdales estate in Bray to see if she could delay the sale.
When she told him she couldn’t, he said he flew into a rage and beat her across the head with a mug.
Two psychiatrists agreed he met the criteria for the special verdict by virtue of the fact he wouldn’t have been able to refrain himself because of his condition.
He’ll now undergo further assessment in the Central Mental Hospital before the court decides the best course of action for him when it reconvenes next month.
