A 39-year-old Ireland-based Nigerian, Brian Ogbo, has been sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment for killing his 82-year-old grandmother, Stella Nnadi, during what an Irish court described as a severe psychotic episode.
Ogbo was sentenced by the Cork Circuit Criminal Court after previously pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his grandmother at the family home in Carrigaline, County Cork, on February 23, 2025.
The report stated that Ogbo had relocated from Nigeria to Ireland in December 2024 to reunite with his mother, Ruby Ogbo, and his grandmother.
The report noted that the court heard that Ruby, a social worker, had made repeated efforts to secure anti-psychotic medication for her son, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017.
It noted that Ogbo had missed two monthly injections while his mother struggled to navigate Ireland’s mental health system.
Judge Sinead Behan reportedly observed that the defendant was “in the obvious throes of a psychotic episode” when the incident occurred.
The report quoted Detective Garda Tom Delaney as saying that Ogbo had been pacing around the house for hours before the attack, destroyed parts of the kitchen, and consumed all the food in the house.
“She told him she worked hard for it. She threatened to take his phone off him and remove the WiFi in the house,” Delaney said while recounting events leading to the attack.
The detective added that Ruby later removed the internet router from the house before leaving the building, adding that Ogbo allegedly followed her with a pair of scissors.
“Ogbo pushed Ruby to the ground in the kitchen and punched her in the head while she was on the ground,” Delaney told the court.
The report further stated that Ogbo later went upstairs searching for his grandmother, who had locked herself in the bathroom.
“He shouted at her to open the door. The deceased shouted, ‘Oh my God.’ ‘Oh my God,’ Delaney was quoted as saying.
According to the report, Ruby fled the house to seek help from neighbours after allegedly telling them that her son was going to kill her mother.
The court heard that Ogbo eventually broke down the bathroom door and dragged his grandmother downstairs before forcing her outside the house.
“Stella managed to make her way out of the house and into the neighbour’s house, where she joined her daughter Ruby,” the detective added.
Although the elderly woman initially did not appear to require hospitalisation, her condition reportedly deteriorated two days later.
A medical scan later revealed bleeding in her brain and she subsequently died in hospital on February 25, 2025.
A postmortem examination reportedly showed that she died from blunt force trauma to the head caused by being forced down the stairs.
Defence counsel Jane Hyland described the incident as “a tragedy for the family and also a tragedy for Mr Ogbo.”
She told the court that her client had maintained a close relationship with his grandmother throughout his life and was devastated by her death.
“She said that the mental state of the accused was so impaired at the time of the offence that he was unable to refrain from committing the act,” the report stated.
The defence also argued that Ogbo could have satisfied the legal conditions for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity if the case had gone to a full trial.
Judge Behan reportedly criticised failures within the mental health system, noting that the death could “arguably have been prevented.”
The judge further condemned what she described as “unforgivable failures” in the provision of psychiatric care and support services.
The report added that a treatment appointment for Ogbo reportedly arrived by post two days after the killing.
It added that the court took into consideration Ogbo’s early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions, and support from family members and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment but suspended the final 18 months.
The sentence was backdated to February 27, 2025, when he was first remanded in custody.
The report noted that the court also ordered that Ogbo must continue engaging with mental health and probation services after his release from prison.
Source: Punch
