Matricide accused tells trial his mother died during self-defence ‘struggle’

Nigel Canavan (39) said his mother, Angela Canavan (58), was "screaming obscenities" and had been insulting him in ways she knew would upset and annoy him Nigel Canavan (39) said his mother, Angela Canavan (58), was "screaming obscenities" and had been insulting him in ways she knew would upset and annoy him.He claimed his mother "knew what buttons to press" and how to "upset and annoy me" during what he described as a "tirade" of abuse.He also said he didn't mean to kill his mother, adding: "I was defending myself in the course of a heated argument."Under cross-examination by defence counsel Conor Devally SC, Mr Canavan said he is not lying or trying to "insult the intelligence" of his Central Criminal Court jury. He said he couldn't account for blunt force trauma injuries to his mother's forearm and suggested that three broken ribs she had suffered could have been the result of a fall she had earlier in the week of her death.He accepted that in his garda interviews in the week after his mother's death, he denied being in the room when Ms Canavan suffered the injuries that caused her death.He said he didn't intend to mislead or be evasive and doesn't know why he gave that account to gardai. "I was upset. I wasn't thinking clearly and I was distressed," he said.When asked why he didn't plead guilty to murdering his mother, he said: "Because I didn't murder her. She died in my presence... There was a struggle and she died in my presence."Mr Canavan, with an address at Erris Gardens, Crossmolina, Co Mayo, has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to his mother's murder at her home in St John's Terrace, Co Sligo on May 1, 2023.In his garda interviews, Mr Canavan said he was staying at his mother's home in 2023 after separating from his wife. On the May Bank Holiday Monday, he said he was in his bedroom when he heard a series of bangs from his mother's living room. When he went downstairs, he said he found his mother lying dead on the kitchen floor.State Pathologist Dr Sallyanne Collis identified a laceration to the top of Ms Canavan's head, stab wounds to each of her legs and bruises to her face, neck, arms, torso and legs. She concluded that Ms Canavan died from asphyxiation by smothering and manual strangulation.Having taken the stand, Mr Canavan accepted that he was present when his mother died. He said his mother was drunk when he came home from work and when he confronted her about her drinking, she began saying "unflattering" things that were intended to hurt him.He said she called him an "ungrateful p**ck", an alcoholic, bipolar, and "the worst son in the world" during a "constant tirade".He said she used insults regarding difficulties he was having with his wife that were designed to do "maximum damage".Mr Canavan said he had to "physically restrain" his mother on "numerous occasions".He described his mother smashing a chair, waving a walking stick around and stabbing herself in both legs. "Once she was finished stabbing herself, she was waving it [the knife] around at me," he said.He said he wrestled the knife from her and picked up a part of the chair his mother had broken and hit her over the head with it. "It wasn't that hard of a blow," he said.News in 90 Seconds - May 14thHe said she threatened to report him to gardai and swung her open hands and feet at him in an attempt to strike him.He accepted that he applied pressure to his mother's neck with his right forearm and clutched the area with his left hand, and that his mother died from asphyxiation.Mr Devally asked why the accused had sought the opinion of a second pathologist when he knew that Dr Collis was correct about the cause of death. "Second opinions are often sought," Mr Canavan said.Mr Devally asked if it was necessary to block his mother's airways in self-defence, given that she was an older woman with an acquired brain injury from a fall some years previously and who, on Mr Canavan's account, was highly intoxicated. "I had to restrain her. I had to defend myself," the accused said.Mr Devally asked: "Are you telling these people that the acts you engaged in, including asphyxiation, were for your own defence?"Mr Canavan replied: "It was a fluid situation where I was being attacked and I acted in self-defence. Unfortunately, my mother is dead."He described his mother's death as "deeply regrettable" and insisted he did not mean to kill her. He added: "Bear in mind, she knew what buttons to press, knew what would upset and annoy me. I don't think anyone wants to hear that. She was forearmed with that information and she knew how to use it."The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo and a jury of ten women and two men.

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