A 36-year-old Italian man has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and committed to the Central Mental Hospital.

Sevario Bellante admitted killing 39-year-old Tom O’ Gorman at his home in Castleknock in Dublin in January 2014, but denied the charge of murder.

The Central Criminal Court today heard that Mr O'Gorman, a freelance journalist and employee of the Iona Institute, was a good and decent man who died in a very disturbing and highly irrational way.

The jury was told that Mr O'Gorman said or did nothing to cause his death.

The defence had called for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan had told the jury the evidence in the case pointed one way.

Bellante admitted attacking Mr O'Gorman sometime in the evening and early hours of 11 and 12 January 2014, stabbing him with a kitchen knife and hitting him with a hand dumbbell.

There was no closing statement from the prosecution today - the only submission was made by defence counsel Sean Guerin.

He told the jury that Mr O'Gorman was a good and decent man who met his death in a very disturbing and highly irrational way and nothing he did or said could have caused his death.

Mr Guerin said how Mr O'Gorman's remains were treated then can only be seen through the lens of insanity.

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.

He told the jury the facts, evidence and testimony of two clinical psychiatrists point to only one verdict.

Mr Guerin urged the jury to find Bellante not guilty by reason of insanity.

Following the verdict, Justice Heneghan directed that Bellante be examined by an approved medical consultant and committed him to the Central Mental Hospital.