A man who stabbed his girlfriend to death had expressed no ‘violence or hostility’ towards her before the fatal attack, an inquiry heard.
James Kennedy, 37, began a relationship with Joanne Gallacher, 33, after they met on a psychiatric ward. He later inflicted 57 wounds on her during a frenzied assault at his home in Biggar, Lanarkshire, in December 2018.
A fatal accident inquiry at Hamilton Sheriff Court heard Kennedy had not disclosed threats of violence towards her but had been deemed a risk of self-harm during meetings with medics.
The court heard the level of ‘extreme violence’ he later used was ‘nigh on impossible’ to predict. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Fernandez Rodriguez met with Kennedy on a number of occasions in 2018 where he told him about his on off relationship with Gallacher.
At one meeting Kennedy claimed he was sleeping in woods in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, because he was concerned Gallacher would do him harm but the doctor found ‘no consistency’ in the claims.
Rodriguez, 58, said: “He didn’t disclose to me any paranoid ideas about any person or Miss Gallacher. He expressed no ideas of violence or hostility towards Miss Gallacher and in conversations about her he would refer to her with a positive regard.
“There was no consistency in his account. He would throw statements around and when we tried to explore them we couldn’t find anything in them.”
The doctor continued: “Extreme violence is an extremely rare occurrence and it makes it nigh on impossible to predict. There was nothing to show that he was capable of the actions that he carried out that night, nothing would indicate that.
“There was no specific risk of violence towards Miss Gallacher, the risk of violence was a general one.” Rodriguez was asked whether Gallacher should have been told about the claims Kennedy had made.
He added: “I can’t criminalise someone by saying to someone ‘they might attack you’. If someone is harbouring ideas of violence then that is enough to tell but I need to have the evidence that someone is harbouring ideas of violence.
“I think Mr Kennedy could have had a very good case to challenge that decision. I can’t raise alarm and significant fear without a basis.”
Rodriguez expressed his ‘deepest condolences’ to the Gallacher family and said it had been a ‘huge loss’ to them and those who had been involved in the situation.
The probe also heard from mental health nurse Carol Park, 65, who spoke to Kennedy on the phone after police were called to his home to carry out a welfare check on him.
She said: “He was quiet, he was polite and he was thoughtful.” Kennedy is being held in the State Hospital at Carstairs after admitting culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility.
He pleaded guilty over the crime at the High Court in Glasgow in 2019. The fatal accident inquiry before Sheriff Michael Higgins, continues.
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