A NURSE tried to drug and kill her three children one day before suffocating them at the family home, a court heard. Deidre Morley allegedly used tape and plastic bags to kill Conor McGinley, nine, Darragh McGinley, seven and Carla McGinley, three. Two of the youngsters were killed in a play tent, with their bodies […]
A NURSE tried to drug and kill her three children one day before suffocating them at the family home, a court heard.
Deidre Morley allegedly used tape and plastic bags to kill Conor McGinley, nine, Darragh McGinley, seven and Carla McGinley, three.
Two of the youngsters were killed in a play tent, with their bodies discovered by their dad Andrew McGinley after he returned from a business trip, the Central Criminal Court was told.
Jurors heard how Morley, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, told cops she was feeling “overwhelmed” and had not loved her children enough.
The nurse also told officers she wanted to save the kids from the “pain and suffering” she believed lay before them and planned to kill herself after killing them, it was said.
On January 23 last year, Morley allegedly put morphine in the boys’ cereal and a painkiller in her daughter’s drink at their home in Dublin.
But the court was told she abandoned the plan after the children spat the medication out.
The following day, she suffocated Darragh with a plastic bag and attempted to kill Carla using a cushion, it was said.
Jurors heard she then took the two children upstairs and laid Darragh on her bed. She then realised Carla was still breathing so held her nose until she stopped.
Morley then took Conor out of school for “family reasons” and placed him in front of the TV so he could watch film Jurassic World.
The nurse suffocated him using a black bag after suggesting they play a game where they put tape over their mouths, it was said.
She later told police Conor asked “stop mammy, what are you doing” as she put the bag over his head, jurors were told.
Morley then left the house after taking medicine with a bottle of wine and crashed her car at a roundabout.
She was later picked up by a taxi driver as she wandered around a petrol station, who phoned emergency crews when she collapsed.
Meanwhile, dad Andrew returned home to discover paramedics and police at his home with a note blocking the bottom of the stairs which said: “Don’t go upstairs, or the front room. I’m so sorry.”
A second note beside Conor’s body in the front room said: “I see no future with disturbance and mental illness. I had to take the children with me. I’m broken and can’t be fixed. I can’t live with myself. I’m so sorry.”
Morley was arrested after recovering from her injuries in hospital.
She allegedly told police she remembered looking at the clock around midday and thinking: “I could do it now. I think that is when something clicked with me.
“I could smother him now. I could kill him now.”
Morley also told officers: “I cannot generate an alternative to this. The family has to go together.”
The court was told Morley had suffered a breakdown in July 2019 and was admitted to St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin for psychiatric care.
Prosecutor Anne-Marie Lawlor SC said her mental health had “improved” leading up to the tragedy, which Morley’s defence team denies.
She said: “Nobody is saying that the physical acts which took the lives of the children did not occur.
“You will hear varying accounts as to whether Ms Morley knew what she did was wrong.”
The trial, which is expected to last for three days, continues.
