Dark Side of Chess: The Game of Kings
Warning: This blog contains detailed depictions of violence. Reader discretion is advised.
Contents
- Tom O'Gorman
- Severio Bellante
- The Game of Kings
- "The Way to Good and Evil is the Heart"
- The Crime Scene
- The Trial
- The Aftermath
- Final Thoughts
- Messages for Tom O'Gorman
Tom O'Gorman
Tom O’Gorman was born in 1975, in Ireland. He was brought up in a strong, Catholic-based household, continuing to hold these beliefs throughout his life. Later on, he became the director of the Iona Institute, an organisation that supports family values and religious freedom. Tom was known by his friends and family to have an upbeat and chatty demeanour and to be generous and very trusting. He was considered a gentleman and an extraordinary person, labelled as a “happy-go-lucky, sociable fellow”.
Tom made it his life's goal to help people out, so when a man named Severio Bellante needed a room to rent, Tom became his lodger and let him stay in his Castleknock home in November 2013. The two met through a mutual friend in Brendan Gallagher at Focolare (an international organisation that promotes the word of Jesus, unity and brotherhood). Soon after, Severio began attending Our Lady Mother of the Church, where Tom was a Minister of the Eucharist, enriching churchgoers lives by giving them "the body and blood of Jesus Christ", a symbolic sacrifice to be eaten.
Severio Bellante
Severio Bellante was born in Palermo, Italy on July 7th, 1979, to a respectable family, who had spent a year in Ireland in 2002. However, behind the curtains, his father struggled with mental health issues and his mother suffered from depression. Throughout his childhood, Severio was the peacemaker when his parents would argue. Later on, he found a partner and began studying politics and international relations at the University of Palermo. However, in 2004 he had a nervous breakdown and started to have delusions, becoming obsessed with religious matters. His partner of eight years left him shortly after and he was diagnosed with religious hysterical delirium. The stress of study and a relationship break-up only escalated these delusions, and in 2005 he began to believe he was Jesus Christ, adopting the posture of a crucifixion.
Severio was hospitalised on three occasions because of psychotic episodes and was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was prescribed anti-psychotic and mood-stabilising medication, which seemed to help. Severio continued to study, graduating from his initial degree and then completed his master's degree in business ethics, consumption and social responsibility from the University of Siena. Severio returned to Ireland in 2011, working as a customer service representative at Allergan pharmaceuticals. He became a member of Focolare and engaged with mental health services, where it was decided that Severio would gradually come off of his anti-psychosis medication (Olanzapine) under the care of a psychiatrist over a period of 18 months. On January 9th, 2014, Severio stopped taking his medication and immediately felt unwell.
The Game of Kings
The King is the most important piece in chess. In fact, chess has been called "The Game of Kings" because of how central they are to the game (along with the connection chess has had to royalty throughout history). At its essence, the game of chess revolves around the King; to protect your own while attempting to checkmate your opponents. A King moves one square at a time, in any direction, except when castling or when it places you in check. On January the 11th, 2014, just two days after Severio stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, began a game of chess that would not finish over the board but as a crime scene, stemming from an argument over a King move.
According to Severio Bellante, Tom O’Gorman was in a losing position when (Severio) moved the King piece. Tom had apparently "got angry" from this move, calling it a "perverse and stupid move". Severio believed Tom's allegations that the move was illegal meant that Tom wasn't playing "by the rules” and thus was breaking the rules himself. While talking to the police, Saverio stated that "I asked him 'why don’t you keep on playing? I am playing, respecting the rules so why do you want to argue about it?' Everyone could understand his way of playing was out of the rules". While no record of this game exists, it should be noted that Tom's sister, Catherine said she was aware that Tom and Saverio had played chess together because her brother had remarked in passing that Severio was “useless” at the game.
Tom O’Gorman decided to stop playing their game of chess after Severio Bellante demanded that Tom apologise. Severio attempted to call the friend that had introduced the two, Brendan Gallagher, about the game, however, there was no answer. A voice message was left on his phone from Severio, saying that there had been an argument between him and Tom and wanted (Gallagher) to be their referee. Mr Gallagher didn't call back when he checked his phone, believing that this was a very minor issue.
"The Way to Good and Evil is the Heart"
Severio sat in front of the fireplace for nearly half an hour, staring at Tom. He watched as two briquettes burnt into ash and began to believe that one represented himself and the other Tom. He poured some water over the ash, believing that this would resolve the dispute, however, when he offered water to Tom, he did not want it. He asked Tom for permission to smoke in the house before lighting up his cigarette. He stared at who he began to believe was a fake, with his logic originating from the idea that the real Tom knew how a King moves in chess. Severio stated that Tom "was scared by the time I finished my cigarette. He knew I wanted to kill him". Severio believed that this 'imposter' either "thought the same way as the devil, or was the devil", who was attempting to enslave him. Severio told police that he "realised that he wanted to kill me. Not physically. But he wanted to kill my freedom", and by killing Tom, he would be ending all evil.
When confessing to what transpired next, Severio Bellante recalled that he put out his cigarette, stood up from his chair, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and "just did what I believed I had to do", attacking Tom O’Gorman with a kitchen knife before hitting him over the head with a dumbbell. He believed it was important to attack both the head and heart, because "the mafia are controlled by these". After Tom had died, Severio recounted that he reached into his friend’s chest and pulled out his heart.
He told police that he began to eat Tom's heart raw, because "The way to good and evil is the heart...I didn’t cook it. I thought to cook it would be too crazy so I ate it raw". He continued by stating that it came out in one large and one small piece, and he chose to eat the larger part because "I just did not like to throw it away". However, he added that he ended up throwing out a part that was impossible to eat into the bin. He then placed the smaller part onto a dish and placed it in the kitchen, as "It was not for me". Afterwards, Severio walked over to the phone, called emergency services and asked for the guards to be sent to Tom's house because he had killed Mr O’Gorman.
The Crime Scene
Severio Bellante stood calmly, blood on his boots, jumper, jeans and face when the investigating gardai (guards) arrived. The crime scene was so gruesome that DNA evidence was needed to formally identify Tom O’Gorman, with the gardai needing to receive trauma counselling from what they had to witness. Philip Kelly, the paramedic stated that the victim laid there on the floor with most of his internal organs visible through a large gaping cavity in Tom's chest. There was a bloodied knife next to the victim, with two inches missing from its blade. A dumbbell was found nearby, which had caused a fracture to Tom's skull, leaving a large gap on the left-side of it. Garden shears were found under the piano, covered in blood, believed to have been used to open up the victim's torso.
The victim suffered three stab wounds to his face and one to the neck, piercing his carotid artery and jugular vein. A plate was placed in the kitchen, which contained a piece of Tom's liver on it, which was warm to a touch. Tom's right lung had also been removed from his body, which was believed to be what Severio Bellante had actually eaten. Tom O’Gorman's heart remained healthy inside of his body, with its vessels intact.
The Trial
Severio Bellante had been admitted to the Central Mental Hospital while awaiting his court hearing. During the court proceedings in 2015, Severio admitted his guilt in the horrific murder of Tom O’Gorman. The trial also heard that Severio was taken off Olanzapine (an anti-psychotic medication) just two days before the murder, medication he had been prescribed since his breakdown in 2005 when he first believed he was Jesus Christ. The court heard that while Severio knew right from wrong, his paranoid schizophrenia had convinced him that it was morally right for Jesus Christ (who he believed he was) to slay the Devil (who he believed Tom O’Gorman was at the time).
Severio’s psychiatrist, Dr Monks, testified that his patient had told him "Life with Tom was exactly what I was looking for, I loved him as a friend", so when Tom allegedly became angry over what Severio believed was a valid King move, he became profoundly paranoid, "taking serious meanings out of mundane events", which led him to hold the opinion that the killing of Tom O’Gorman was entirely justified. He went on to state that while most relapses with this condition occur within six months of stopping medication, “rapid rebounds can occur.” He also claimed that he wasn’t told about one of his patients three psychotic breaks when deciding to gradually take him off of Olanzapine. It was subsequently ruled that while Severio Bellante was fit to enter his plea of guilty, he wasn't fit enough to stand trial. This meant that Severio Bellante was returned to the Central Mental Hospital an acquitted man without a criminal record by reason of insanity. In the eyes of the law, Severio was guilty of no crime.
The Aftermath
This culminated in a sitting in the Dublin District Coroner's Court in 2022, where a jury of four women and three men heard about and witnessed images of the brutality that unfolded eight years prior. A Coroner's Court focuses on the facts of the case, so while it cannot find a person guilty, their verdict can be used in court at a later date. During this proceeding, the coroner stated that they are not concerned with issues of legal liability or "whether alleged negligent treatment of Mr Bellante caused him to kill Mr O’Gorman". He continued on to say that Severio Bellante's claim (of negligence) "rings hollow” when compared with the details of his actions that were described in the 19-page personal injury summons. The jury returned a narrative verdict in accordance with the evidence and facts of the case, which included the fact that Severio had discontinued his medicine. The foreperson of the jury said the jurors had become "deeply impacted" by this case.
It has now been ten years since the night Tom O’Gorman's life was unjustly and cruelly taken. As the sensationalism of this horrific event dissipated, information became scarce and there needed to be a lot of digging to retrieve any updates after the initial fanfare and interest it received wore off. The last account I can find states that Severio Bellante is currently behind bars in Ireland for the murder of Tom O’Gorman.
Final Thoughts
Memorials and Masses were held in honour of Tom O’Gorman in Ireland as well as in America. Throughout his time, Tom had touched the lives of countless people. These are a few of the many sentiments that were shared about him:
“Anyone who knew Tom knew of his love of connecting people. His memorial in Washington was a testament to that. Tom had a gift for forging lasting friendships. Those in attendance included friends like myself who have known Tom since his days at UCD and others who had met Tom on his most recent trip to Washington in August 2013. All of us touched by and made better people by Tom’s friendship and love. Some tears were shed but our laughter filled the restaurant as we shared some of our favorite memories of Tom and the gift of his friendship” - Molly Pannell.
“My soul is crying because Tom died” - Catherine Pannell (five years old)
“To know Tom was to love Tom, or more accurately, to have been loved by Tom. The world was blessed to have known Tom, and it is better to have had him for a short time than never to have had him at all. It is such love and joy, truth and passion of such friendships that are the foretaste of heaven where our friendship with God fills us completely” - Fr. Byrne
“The heart of Tom’s life’s mission was doing good in simple one-to-one ways, meeting people and lighting up their lives with his interest in them as individuals. Friends owe Tom a debt of gratitude. We remember Tom and send him home with good prayers” - Dr Joseph McCarroll
“He was always there in the background, working away quietly supporting people, building people up. It was very much the kind of guy he was. Tom was a real giver; he gave and gave and gave" - Eamonn Gaines
"For us he was our big brother. He was funny. He was interested and excited by life. He was gentle, with an honesty that made him vulnerable. He was passionate about his faith and also deeply empathetic, intellectually curious and always open to dialogue" - Catherine O'Gorman
Thank you for reading my second Dark Side of Chess blog. If there are any other Dark Side of Chess stories that you would like me to cover, please write them in the comments below. Have a beautiful day.
