The trial of a Dublin man who shot dead his neighbour in 2014 has heard he was suffering from severe depression and psychotic symptoms at the time.

James Redmond from the Killinarden estate in Tallaght has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of 64-year-old Mary Dargan.

Lorraine Redmond said her husband James went to bed on the afternoon of March 15, 2014. She said he was crying and complaining of a headache.

Soon afterwards, she saw him climbing over their back wall into Mary Dargan’s garden.

She said she heard two loud bangs and went next door to investigate. When she got there, she saw her husband being restrained by her neighbour’s son.

It later emerged that Mary’s daughter Karina had also been shot, but she survived the attack.

Dr Conor O’Neill told the trial that Mr Redmond believed he could hear members of the Dargan family chanting through the wall of his house, calling him a paedophile and insulting his wife and daughter.

Because of his mental condition, Dr O’Neill said he would not have been able to refrain himself from what he did.

He also concluded that he fitted the criteria for the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.