Louth murder accused told gardai his mother asked him to let his brother go

A 32-year-old man accused of murdering three members of his family in their Co Louth home described to gardai how his mother had asked him to let his younger special needs brother go as he held them by knife point, a jury has heard.

Robert O'Connor, of Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, Co Louth, has pleaded not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, or guilty of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility to the triple murder of his mother Louise (56), his father Mark (54) and his younger brother Evan (27) at their home between September 28 and 29 2025, both dates inclusive.

The Central Criminal Court jury has been told that the accused accepts he caused the death of the three victims.

At the outset of Robert's first interview at Drogheda Garda Station at 5pm on September 29 that year, the accused's solicitor told officers that his client has schizophrenia and could not remember the last time he took his medication.

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The solicitor explained that the accused had seen a doctor earlier that day, but Robert said he did not remember seeing one.

When the accused was asked by gardai to tell them in his own words what had happened, Robert replied: "I don't know what to tell you, I really don't."

When gardai asked him to tell them what he remembered, Robert said he did not know where to start or what to say. When he was asked to take it slow, the accused said "Friday was normal enough, I don't know why I did it".

Robert said his father, mother and brother were in the house at the time. The accused said he could not remember what they had for dinner but he had gone upstairs to "do some cocaine". He said his parents then called him back down, as they wanted to talk about his cocaine use.

He continued: "In that conversation, they said 'we are not comfortable with this happening in this house'.... aside from my mates they are the only people I had in this world, I don't know why I did it".

Gardai asked the accused what he meant when he said "did it". The accused replied "murdering them".

Robert said the conversation with his parents was "about violence" and how they did not want it in the house. "It affects Evan's behaviour, if there is going to be any violence in the house, they need to know."

The accused said his parents asked him whether he enjoyed doing cocaine and did he want to stop. "I said no....they were very understanding about it as they always are... I was saying I didn't want to stop and what I got out of it..I went upstairs, started using cocaine and watched porn."

Robert said he saw "them all sitting in the sitting room" and "got a knife; all angry and shit".

"I went into the sitting room and walked over with the knife and asked my mother why she didn't feel empathy and why she didn't feel the pain," he said.

Robert said he had "slashed" his mother first "on the head" before she looked at him and said 'Rob I have to go to the toilet'. The accused continued "she gave me that look and I was supposed to know that face".

He said the look his mother gave him was like "in 'Love/Hate' when Tommy let the girl go". "I saw the three in the room, they both said 'please let Evan over' and I don't know why I didn't".

The accused told detectives he was pointing a knife at the three members of his family and telling them "not to be opening their mouths at the one time". "I made two stand there and one stand there, then I tried to make them stand with their heads facing the ground so they couldn't look at me."

Robert said his mother went for the door. "I slammed it back shut and said get the f**k back in there". He said his father had charged at him to try to get out the door but he thought he stuck "it in his stomach or something".

The accused told gardai "can I please not give details about the stabbing". "I stabbed them multiple times, I can't remember".

He told gardai he thought his brother’s iPad "changed the reality” and that his brother was “like a programmer”. He said he kept asking his brother “was he the programmer” and “I wanted him to get the iPad and undo everything that happened.”

"Can we stop asking about the murders, I've given a good bit of detail on it," continued the accused.

Robert also told detectives that he had taken cocaine "a lot regularly in the last three or four years" but he had never been violent. "I don't know why this happened, I just keep to myself in my room".

The accused said he was from a very loving family and began to cry at this stage.

He said he had got a kitchen knife from between the oven and the sink to stab his father and slash his mother.

When asked how long it took, the accused said it "took anywhere from 15 minutes onwards; I don't want to talk about it".

Asked where the knife was, the accused said he "never found where I put it, I didn't take it out of the house, I wasn't trying to hide it like".

When gardai asked whether the knife was somewhere in the house, the accused told them he did not want to say too much more.

Asked what had happened "after the murders occurred", Robert said he thought "they went down the hall" and "it started freaking me out when my dad wasn't dying, loads of blood was coming out, I don't want to revisit it".

The accused repeated "it freaked me out at the amount of blood coming out of my dad".

When asked if he wanted to change or add anything to his statement, Robert said: "I wish to add that my mother asked me to let Evan go".

"Is it fair to say you are telling us you murdered them?" asked gardai, to which the accused replied: "Yes."

Earlier, Ms Lacey read a statement from the accused's friend Sander Kopanov, who said he had known Robert since secondary school.

The witness said they would have gone out together in Carrickmacross when they were teenagers. Mr Kopanov said he would have described the accused back then as someone who "goes hard" at parties and "goes on the session". He said Robert was "into drink" and believed he would have taken drugs at the time.

The witness said the accused started working at 'KTF' in Dundalk in 2024. He said Robert spoke very highly about his family and would praise his dad for taking him to work. Mr Kopanov said the accused would tell him if he didn't take his medication, his "head would go" and he'd hear voices.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Mícheál P O’Higgins and a jury of six men and six women.