Pensioner who tried to smother dying father walks free after mercy killing case

Downpatrick Crown Court Judge Geoffrey Miller QC told 67-year-old James Weir (pictured) while there was “no doubt” his offence crossed the custody threshold, he was suspending the sentence “having regard to the exceptional circumstances surrounding the case, bearing in mind that regardless of your intention at the time, the actual degree of harm was slight and had no bearing on your father’s death”.

The judge said Weir’s actions in smothering his unconscious father with a cushion had been “deliberate and clearly carried out with the intention of killing his father, something he may well have achieved had the nurse not arrived in the room”.

Weir, from Manor Street in Belfast, had pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his father James Weir on November 24, 2018.

The court heard Mr Weir Snr, who was 90 at the time and a resident at Blair House Care home in Ards, was approaching “the end of his life” when his son tried to kill him.

Prosecuting counsel Laura Ievers said the defendant, who along with his brother had drunk a litre of whiskey and 10 Guinness overnight as they sat watching their father, had been momentarily alone in the room when a nurse came in and saw him “holding a cushion over his father’s face”.

As the nurse took the cushion from him, “he said he was sorry she had to witness it but he thought it was the right thing to do for his father and that he couldn’t see him suffer any longer”, the lawyer said, describing how Weir Jnr was “visibly distressed”.

A statement from the defendant’s sister also indicated he was “shaking and crying” when he told her “he tried to smother their father,” said Mrs Ievers who revealed how their father had previously “asked the family to help him die”.

The statement added that the subject had been apparently raised “a number of times in the preceding years”.

Mr Weir snr was taken to hospital and examined as a precaution and although he had not sustained any serious injury, he passed away two weeks after the incident.

Arrested and interviewed, Weir jnr told police he couldn’t remember his dad saying anything in the past that “would’ve prompted him to act in the way he did” but claimed he could not remember what had happened in the room.

Mrs Ievers told Judge Miller the admission to attempted murder “is a welcome one in what is a difficult and sensitive case.”

Describing the case as tragic and exceptional, defence QC Niall Hunt said he had been unable to find any other case like it which would’ve helped to guide the court.

He said Weir and his father had not just been father and son but having worked together for many years in the Ormeau bakery, their relationship had been “much more than that, they were very, very close friends.”

Judge Miller told the court Weir had admitted an intention to kill his dad and “there can be no more grave an admission for a person to make.”

The judge said it was clear their was no animosity felt towards the defendant by his family.

“Very few of us know how our lives are going to end and any of us who have witnessed, as this defendant did, a parent once so vigorous, coming to the conclusion of their lives in a situation such as this - it’s something that none of us wish for our own parents, our loved ones and not something we would wish for ourselves,” said Judge Miller.

Suspending the sentence, he warned Weir that if he reoffended he would serve the 18 months but doubted such an eventuality would arise.