A family member of a woman “brutally killed” by her son has told the Central Criminal Court that it felt as if the deceased had been the one on trial. Another said the defendant was “never given a chance” by his “very violent” mother.One of the defendant’s brothers told the court his sibling had kicked a 62-year-old grandmother to death and stepped on her “lifeless body” as he left her to die. “You wouldn’t leave a dog in that state,” another brother said. The actions of Luke Donnelly (29), who told a jury he had “lost all control” and kicked his mother Catherine Henry to death after she threatened to kill him, have “severely divided” his family, the court was told.Last February, Donnelly was found not guilty of murdering his mother but guilty of manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury, after they accepted his defence that he had been provoked. The court heard Henry had taken out a safety order against her son in 2020.Donnelly had told his trial how he had been “groomed” into a life of drugs and violence by his allegedly abusive mother. “In my whole life of being attacked and abused I had never defended myself, just waited for it to be over,” he told the court. Donnelly, of no fixed abode, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter at Henry’s apartment on Bridge Street, Dundalk, Co Louth, on a date unknown between May 23rd and 24th, 2023.He accepted he had caused multiple fractures to his mother’s skull and that he had left a blood-stained footprint on her back.Describing the fatal encounter, Donnelly said he had closed his eyes and “waited for it to be over” as his mother lunged at him. At that moment, Donnelly said, he was in fear for his life, snapped and threw a punch. “I lost all control and proceeded to stomp, it all happened in a moment,” he said, adding he believed his mother was going to kill him.At a sentence hearing on Wednesday, prosecuting barrister Garret Baker said there was a divergence of views as to how members of the family got along with their mother.In a statment, Kathleen Donnelly said her younger brother Luke had never been given a chance to make something of his life while growing up. “He was groomed by our mother and [a] fugitive criminal. She was not a nice person to be around, the last memory I have of her is her threatening to kill me. She was a very violent mother.”In a letter of apology read to the court by his barrister, Donnelly said he wanted to apologise to “the victims” in the case. “I take full responsibility for what I did,” he said. “I feel like a completely different person who committed this offence, it feels like a lifetime ago”.In his victim impact statement, the defendant’s brother Robert Donnelly said his mother Catherine was “the best”, that she had given her family “everything in life” and that what his sibling had taken from his family could never be replaced.“I struggle to live without my mother, my mother saved my life so many times, I owe her everything, all the family does”.“Hearing details as to what happened to her, you wouldn’t leave a dog in that state ... he left her there to die.” The deceased’s sister Elizabeth Kenny said “although Luke brutally killed her, it felt like she was on trial”.“She was a deeply loving person with a wonderful sense of humour ... she loved her children unconditionally and also adored her grandchildren”.Another son, Jonathan Donnelly, said in his statement that the loss of their “loving” mother had devastated the family.“He is responsible for severely dividing and shattering the sense of safety and trust within our family,” he said. Justice Paul McDermott remanded Donnelly in custody until June 19th for sentencing.