A mentally ill New York man who once tried to sacrifice a stranger’s baby on a plane was found not guilty by reason of insanity in an Irish court Thursday over the brutal murder of his millionaire financier dad.
Brooklynite Henry McGowan, 31, was on trial for killing his 66-year-old father, John McGowan, at a posh five-star hotel resort in Ireland in 2024 after the family patriarch flew across the Atlantic to help his son through a mental health crisis.
A jury handed down the verdict after hearing from both prosecution and defense witnesses that McGowan, who had a long history of mental illness, was in the midst of a psychotic episode when he beat and choked his father to death, RTE reported.
The tragic killing unfolded Nov. 12, 2024, when the wealthy financier flew to Ireland on a so-called mercy mission after learning his son had suffered a mental health relapse while traveling through Europe.
Henry McGowan, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2022, had gone to the Mater Hospital in Dublin for some medication a day earlier after trashing his passport and belongings at the airport — and then running to the city center.
After reuniting with his son, the elder McGowan, a partner at an investment firm in the Big Apple, checked them both into the luxe Ballyfin Demesne resort in Laois while they waited for a new emergency passport.
The son later stripped naked and attacked his father in a changing cubicle in the resort’s pool area — leaving him lying in a pool of blood, the court heard.
McGowan, who was found sitting in the hotel’s library in the aftermath, told investigators that God had willed him to strangle his father because he was trying to force him to take his meds.
The son added that he told his dad he’d always love him right before he died.
Multiple psychiatrists testified during the trial that they believed McGowan was suffering from a schizoaffective disorder at the time.
Meanwhile, McGowan’s prior mental history was relayed to jurors during the trial, including one episode in 2022 when he tried to snatch a stranger’s baby on a flight to Paris so he could attempt to sacrifice the child in order to save the plane.
He was admitted to a mental hospital in the wake of that incident, the court heard.
McGowan, who was flanked by his loved ones in court for the verdict, returned to Dublin’s Central Mental Hospital for treatment.
There will be a Feb. 20 hearing at which a judge will rule on his court-ordered treatment plan.
