The Saverio Bellante Trial: Italian Man Killed Landlord and Then Ate His Heart.

Skullface McGubbin · 31-07-2015 03:31PM #1

Surprisingly, I haven't seen a thread on this yet so I thought I'd start one.

Italian Lodger Saverio Belante has pleaded not guilty by way of insanity to murdering and eating the heart of his Landlord after a heated game of chess.

Belante allegedly thought he was god when he murdered victim Tom O'Gorman.

Tom O'Gorman was a religous affairs writer and a member of the Iona Institute.

Link to the story can be found here http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/saverio-bellante-trial-italian-man-6168812

Personally, I never had much interest in the Iona Institute or what they do but what I know about them most was that a lot of people on boards have an intense dislike of them (to say the least). So I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread on the topic already. Or maybe there is but I haven't seen it.

If for some reason it's a banned topic, let me know.

seamus · 31-07-2015 03:37PM

Discussion of ongoing court cases is not permitted, this is why there's no thread on it.

Regardless of the man's associations or beliefs, nobody deserves to die like that.

Lux23 · 31-07-2015 03:41PM

Well the case is over now. Tom O'Gorman just happened to work for Iona, as much as I dislike them I don't think this murder is anything other than a sad tragedy.

BattleCorp · 31-07-2015 03:42PM

The case is over so you are free to discuss it. I believe the Italian gentleman has been found not guilty due to him being "batsh1t crazy".

seamus · 31-07-2015 03:46PM

So once someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, does the court have any power to detain them indefinitely?

NotCominBack · 31-07-2015 03:50PM

Chess can bring out the worse in people

osarusan · 31-07-2015 03:52PM

He was committed to mental hospital for some kind of meeting/evaluation in the next 2 weeks. I don't know if the court/court ordered evaluation has the power to make him stay there, but I would imagine and hope that they do.

Menas · 31-07-2015 03:54PM

seamus wrote: »

So once someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, does the court have any power to detain them indefinitely?

Yes, I think they can be committed to the central mental hospital indefinitely. Not sure of the process, but that will be the end result.

NachoBusiness · 31-07-2015 03:56PM

See, this is why I like to play chess alone, against a computer.

Owner of a lonely heart is much better than iona of an eaten heart.

Nodin · 31-07-2015 03:57PM

osarusan wrote: »

He was committed to mental hospital for some kind of meeting/evaluation in the next week. I don't know if the court/court ordered evaluation has the power to make him stay there, but I would imagine and hope that they do.

Afaik, he's essentially committed to a secure facility until such time as they deem him safe to release.

"Bellante, he said, had been treated for mental illness for ten years and his medication kept his illness in check. However, his medical regime changed and two to three days after his anti-psychotic medication had been discontinued he developed a very severe psychosis very rapidly."
http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0731/718448-saverio-bellante-tom-o-gorman/

Often people get the notion they're better and just stop taking the meds but evidently that's not the case here. Sad for all concerned.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 31-07-2015 03:58PM

Mr Ballante said the days after he was taken off his medication he began to feel different and began interpreting things either as good or evil.
He said he experienced this all weekend, even when he was watching a football match on television, where he said one side was representing good and the other evil. He said when goals were scored this represented the battle between good and evil.
He denied hearing voices but said he felt he had a special ability to interpret the signs.
He told Dr Monks about the evening he killed Mr O’Gorman.
He said while they were waiting for their mutual friend Mr Gallagher to call them back, he went outside for a cigarette.
Mr Ballante told the doctor he was going to tell Mr O’Gorman about good and evil when he was out having a cigarette and said he would ask Mr O’Gorman if he could smoke inside as he normally wasn’t allowed.
He said Mr O’Gorman agreed. He said he remembers seeing two peat briquettes in the fire and interpreted them as good and evil – one as him and one as Mr O’Gorman. He told his doctor that he poured water over the ashes and asked Mr O’Gorman if he wanted to and he said no. He said he thought this would end the fight between good and evil.
He said he decided in that moment to take the knife. He said he thought Mr O’Gorman was the devil.
“I thought to get rid of evil was to eat the heart,” he said. He said he initially attempted to cook the organs but said it would be too crazy, so he ate it raw.

Jeepers that's a pretty interesting if terrifying glimpse inside the mind of a schizophrenic

VisibleGorilla · 31-07-2015 03:59PM

seamus wrote: »

So once someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, does the court have any power to detain them indefinitely?

He will go before a review board, most likely he will spend a very long time in the Central Mental Hospital, reviewed every 6 months I think.

Herpes Cineplex · 31-07-2015 04:00PM

Leon Shaggy Hazelnut wrote: »

Jeepers that's a pretty interesting if terrifying glimpse inside the mind of a schizophrenic

Chilling stuff.

Spanish Eyes · 31-07-2015 04:02PM

And when his meds are sorted out and he becomes sane again can he ask for release, as he is no longer insane?

Just wondered.

vienne86 · 31-07-2015 04:08PM

As is often the case, you have to feel for the family of the deceased seeing this all over the papers. Horrific stuff. RTE wouldn't broadcast the details today at lunchtime.

NachoBusiness · 31-07-2015 04:09PM

Leon Shaggy Hazelnut wrote: »

Jeepers that's a pretty interesting if terrifying glimpse inside the mind of a schizophrenic

Jesus, that's a bit ott isn't it? I was just making a pun based on a popular hit from the early 80's.

Skullface McGubbin · 31-07-2015 04:18PM

seamus wrote: »

So once someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, does the court have any power to detain them indefinitely?

I don't know but I hope they do. A fella like that is not only batsh!t but also sounds like a danger to others. So I hope they keep him inside for as long as possible.

Buzz Meeks · 31-07-2015 04:43PM

Nodin wrote: »

Afaik, he's essentially committed to a secure facility until such time as they deem him safe to release.

Could you imagine if you were the current reigning chess champion inside that secure facility. You'd be fairly brave not to forfeit the title now.

Smidge · 31-07-2015 04:54PM

Leon Shaggy Hazelnut wrote: »

Jeepers that's a pretty interesting if terrifying glimpse inside the mind of a schizophrenic

Surely admitting that he considered cooking the heart would be "too crazy " would mean that he was fully cognisant of what he was actually doing and therefore negating reason of insanity?
I'm sure that I had heard /read somewhere before that genuinely "crazy " people don't know they are crazy.

Nodin · 31-07-2015 05:03PM

Buzz Meeks wrote: »

Could you imagine if you were the current reigning chess champion inside that secure facility. You'd be fairly brave not to forfeit the title now.

I'd say he's hidden the chess pieces and just does jigsaws now.

On a serious note, if yer man is back on his meds he should be perfectly grand - he was stable there for a decade. He may actually be more a danger to himself, depending on his memory of the event in question, as he gets it back together.

Nodin · 31-07-2015 05:05PM

Smidge wrote: »

Surely admitting that he considered cooking the heart would be "too crazy " would mean that he was fully cognisant of what he was actually doing and therefore negating reason of insanity?
I'm sure that I had heard /read somewhere before that genuinely "crazy " people don't know they are crazy.

Within their irrational mindset, there'd still be things they'd consider irrational. Which is weird, but there ye go.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 31-07-2015 05:53PM

Smidge wrote: »

Surely admitting that he considered cooking the heart would be "too crazy " would mean that he was fully cognisant of what he was actually doing and therefore negating reason of insanity?
I'm sure that I had heard /read somewhere before that genuinely "crazy " people don't know they are crazy.

I don't think so. I think it shows a lack of awareness of what he was doing if he's drawing the 'crazy' line at cooking someone's organs, but not at eating them to rid the world of evil like.

pmasterson95 · 31-07-2015 05:59PM

Feel really sorry for all involved. The italians meds being discontinued led to him relapsing into psychosis. But I certainly wouldnt say hed need permanent locking up. If they can find an alternative drug to treat him that actually works it would be quite harsh to permanently detain him. I think I heard he'd been diagnosed 10 years ago yet never killed anyone until 3 days of his meds. Truly horrible.

Smidge · 31-07-2015 06:24PM

Leon Shaggy Hazelnut wrote: »

I don't think so. I think it shows a lack of awareness of what he was doing if he's drawing the 'crazy' line at cooking someone's organs, but not at eating them to rid the world of evil like.

It sounds even worse when you think about it like that. Can't imagine what that level of mental illness must be like to live with.

conorh91 · 31-07-2015 06:28PM

seamus wrote: »

Discussion of ongoing court cases is not permitted

No but the case has passed form the seisin of the Jury. A Judge is unlikely to be swayed by our thoughts. Although it is theoretically possible that a judge could be incapable of disregarding what he reads on boards, the main concern is always about jurors*.

And even then, the courts almost always give jurors the benefit of the doubt.

31-07-2015 07:29PM

NotCominBack wrote: »

Chess can bring out the worse in people

NachoBusiness wrote: »

See, this is why I like to play chess alone, against a computer.

Owner of a lonely heart is much better than iona of an eaten heart.

Buzz Meeks wrote: »

Could you imagine if you were the current reigning chess champion inside that secure facility. You'd be fairly brave not to forfeit the title now.

I knew Tom. Not well by any means but when he was working in UCD c. 2001-2003 we used to have long chats regularly, particularly on 16th and 17th century history (if I recall, he had recently finished an MLitt in early modern Irish history on, I think, propaganda as a result of the 1641 rebellion). He always came across as a down-to-earth guy with no notions about him and that was refreshing.

It's disturbing to hear reports on the news of the murder of somebody you knew. It makes you think. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

The Black Oil · 31-07-2015 08:34PM

I remember this breaking at the time. The coverage by the Irish Independent (online, at least) was terribly sensationalist and that reflects a broader pattern in how it reports on crime. Breda O' Brien who knew him, touched on it in her column - The Irish Times was more measured when the death occurred, which she was grateful for.

I was unaware of the graphic details until the last few days and what was splashed across the papers I saw in the supermarket today. Beyond words, really.

Aside from Tom O' Gorman's family, it must have pretty horrific for the Gardai on scene and for Professor Marie Cassidy.

anncoates · 31-07-2015 08:39PM

The Black Oil wrote: »

Aside from Tom O' Gorman's family, it must have pretty horrific for the Gardai on scene and for Professor Marie Cassidy.

Obviously not comparable, but feel for the killer's family too, having it splashed about the news like that

Wright · 31-07-2015 08:40PM

NachoBusiness wrote: »

See, this is why I like to play chess alone, against a computer.

Owner of a lonely heart is much better than iona of an eaten heart.

I LOLed. This thread is going to be a graveyard.

31-07-2015 08:43PM

Yea, just because he worked for something as deplorable as the Iona Institute doesn't mean he should have been killed the way he was. Anyone that says so needs to get their heads examined. It's like those Enda Kenny protestors that put out a banner mocking his dead mother. Some people are just disgusting.

conorh91 · 31-07-2015 09:44PM

It's mostly thanks whoring. Ignore it.

The Saverio Bellante Trial: Italian Man Killed Landlord and Then Ate His Heart.

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