A “warm, engaging, much-loved and lovable young man”, who stabbed his physically frail and housebound father to death during a psychotic episode, continues to enjoy the full love and support of his family, the Central Criminal Court heard on Wednesday. Det Garda Ultan McIlroy gave evidence to the trial of Daire McCormack George (31) that the accused’s family told gardaí that he had never shown any aggression before the attack on his father, Scott George, in December 2024.The detective said the accused’s sister, Hillary, described what happened as a “tragic accident” and said McCormack George remains loved by all his family and friends.She said he never harmed anyone, was never in trouble in school or college and has a large cohort of friends who continue to visit him regularly in the Central Mental Hospital to offer their support. His former girlfriend visits him every six weeks and he has the full love and support of his sister and their mother, Goretti, the detective said. The family told gardaí that McCormack George’s mental health began to suffer in 2018. He was treated at Beaumont Hospital and appeared to respond well to medication. By the time of the stabbing, his dosage had been reduced to a “very low level”, the detective said.A psychiatrist who diagnosed McCormack George with a schizoaffective disorder said the relapse of his psychosis “coincided with the reduction of medication”.McCormack George had developed a delusional belief that his physically frail, housebound father was going to kill the accused’s mother and sister. McCormack George, with an address at Cabra Road, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of his father. Scott died at his home at Drumans End, Tobersool, Balbriggan, on December 12th, 2024 having been stabbed 27 times.The detective garda told defence counsel Michael Bowman SC that McCormack George also had an excellent academic history. He graduated with a degree in law from Trinity College before attending Oxford University for a year.When he returned to Trinity, he completed a four-year PhD in three years. He enjoyed hillwalking, cycling, swimming, hiking and reading.McIlroy also confirmed that State Pathologist Linda Mulligan identified 42 sharp force injuries on the deceased’s body, at least 27 of which were stab wounds. She noted an incised wound to his neck that damaged the left jugular vein. Other stab wounds had caused damage to the lungs, diaphragm and other organs, leading to a large loss of blood.The deepest wound went to 12.5cm while there was also evidence of defensive type injuries. The pathologist concluded that Scott George died due to multiple stab wounds.Consultant psychiatrist Jamie Walsh told Vincent Heneghan SC, prosecuting, that he diagnosed the accused with a schizoaffective disorder, which was active at the time of the stabbing.He agreed with the report of Stephen Monks, instructed by the defence, that in the days before the assault, the accused developed fixed, persecutory and delusional beliefs, including that he was living in a simulation, that he was responsible for a genocide and that nuclear weapons were being tested on the population.From journal entries McCormack George made in the days leading up to the alleged offence, the psychiatrist said it was clear that the accused had come to believe that his father would kill his mother and sister if he did not act to protect them. Given his father’s physical condition, this belief was “grossly out of keeping with the objective reality”, the doctor said.When he killed his father, he believed he was morally obliged to act pre-emptively, although he knew the killing would result in him sacrificing his own freedom. Walsh agreed with an extract from Monks’ report, in which he said that the accused believed the killing was an “act of protection and sacrifice, demanded by the circumstances as he delusionally understood them”.McCormack George, he said, will require ongoing treatment at the Central Mental Hospital in the hope that he can one day return to being a productive member of society.These illnesses, he said, are real and should be treated, not punished.Bowman will read Monks’ report to the jury of 10 men and two women on Thursday, when the trial returns before Judge Ellen Creedon.