A MAN who has denied murdering Co Fermanagh woman Pauline Kilkenny last year is to undergo psychiatric examination ahead of his trial in December.
Ms Kilkenny’s relatives were in Dungannon Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, to see 28-year-old Joseph Dolan be formally arraigned on charges of murdering her, stealing her Fiat Panda car, and implicating his former girlfriend in the killing between November 13 and 16 last year.
They listened as defence QC James Gallagher told Mr Justice Colton the primary issue in the case was a psychiatric one and as a result, it was expected Dolan's trial would last only two to three days.
However, he added, that unfortunately it may not be until September before Dolan, of no fixed abode, can be examined. An additional feature in the case was Dolan's previous history of psychiatric hospital admissions, both here and in the Republic.
Mr Gallagher said "in short" that would also have to be looked at, and that it also appeared that his mother also had a history of psychiatric hospital admissions, prior to her death.
Following an objection by prosecuting QC Ciaran Murphy at the "very significant" delay in obtaining reports, Mr Justice Colton ordered that medical reports should be lodged with the court by mid-August.
No details surrounding the death of Ms Kilkenny were given during the brief arraignment hearing, but at the time it was reported that the 59-year-old, whose body was found in her isolated home, was stabbed 30 times in the head, neck, back and torso. She also suffered a number of serious head injuries caused by blunt force trauma.
A previous hearing was told she was found by her sister in the isolated bungalow, where she lived alone, about a mile off the Cornacully Road between Belleek and Garrison, after the alarm was raised when she failed to return to work at Lilley's Centra store in Enniskillen, after a few days off.
