A former BBC security guard who killed his wife in a hammer attack in their Four Winds home will be sentenced for the “utterly tragic” incident this week.
Gary Baird (65) killed his wife Susan in August 2020 and pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.
During a plea hearing held at Belfast Crown Court on Monday, it emerged that prior to the fatal hammer attack, over 570 calls had been made to his GP practice in a bid to seek help - none of which were answered.
Mrs Baird (60), a mother-of-four, died from catastrophic head injures in her Windermere Road home on August 16 2020.
At the time of her death, she worked as an administrator at Orangefield Presbyterian Church.
Outlining the Crown's case, prosecuting barrister Richard Weir KC told Mr Justice McFarland that the manslaughter charge was accepted due to several psychiatric reports which outlined Baird's mental state at the time of the killing.
Branding the fatal attack as “utterly tragic”, Mr Weir said after killing his wife, Baird called 999 and in an 11-minute phone call he admitted what he had done.
Police attended the couple’s home where they observed a heavily-bloodstained Baird sitting in the kitchen with a head wound.
They discovered Mrs Baird lying slumped on a sofa in a small room off the kitchen. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Weir told Mr Justice McFarland that Mrs Baird sustained "serious and catastrophic" wounds to her head whilst her husband - who was bleeding from self-inflicted injuries to his head - was "agitated and confused" at the scene.
Branding the attack as “unprovoked”, Mr Weir said the violence was “gratuitous” and “inflicted upon an innocent victim.”
He added Mrs Baird was attacked in her own home which is a place she should have felt “safe and secure.”
Following his arrest, Baird admitted attacking his wife with a hammer and said 'the voices in my head told me to do it'.
Mr Weir also disclosed that 10 days before killing his wife, Baird jumped in front of a bin lorry as it drove down Bedford Street in Belfast, which resulted in him being hospitalised.
He also revealed whilst there had been problems within the Baird’s marriage, there was no history of domestic violence and Mrs Baird has been concerned about the decline in her husband’s mental health.
Defence barrister Brian McCartney KC also highlighted his client's mental illness and said that on the day of the killing Baird was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning.
Saying Baird had suffered a history of mental ill health, Mr McCartney told the court a call log on June 26, 2020 indicated that over 570 calls had been made to Baird’s GP practice seeking help regarding his mental health but “none of these calls had been answered”.
Describing the attack as "impulsive", Mr McCartney said it was carried out "after weeks of psychiatric torture suffered" by Baird.
He also told Mr Justice McFarland that his client was a man with a “previously exemplary character”, with no prior criminal convictions and has expressed remorse.
After listening to submissions from both the Crown and defence, Mr Justice McFarland said he would pass sentence on Baird on Wednesday.