A JUDGE issued an ultimatum to the Governor of Limerick Prison this week warning that if he did not get psychiatric help for a deeply distressed prisoner, she would put the man “back on the streets”.
The man appeared via video link before Judge Patricia Harney sitting in Limerick District Court in Mulgrave Street on Tuesday.
Speaking from Limerick Prison, where he is on remand in custody, visibly distressed and trembling, the man pleaded with Judge Harney “please, I have to tell you something. They have taken away all of my regular medication. I need my medication.”
When the man appeared on video screen, he was anxious to speak with the judge but acknowledged that his solicitor was in court and prepared to speak on his behalf.
Judge Harney asked him to let the hearing proceed and told him “I am doing my best for you”.
The accused man is facing charges under the Public Order Act. When he appeared before Judge Harney on a previous occasion, she had directed that a medical and psychiatric assessment be made.
The judge was told that this had not happened, to which she replied: “That’s not good enough.”
“This man is in acute distress. I am thinking seriously about striking out each and every one of the charges,” she told the man’s solicitor, Mr John Herbert.
“I am saying this loud and clear, I will release him back on to the streets if the prison authorities cannot arrange a suitable placement for him.”
Judge Harney said she was “directing the Governor of Limerick Prison to arrange urgently for an admission for this man to an appropriate medical facility. If that is not done, I will release him and that may not be the best thing for him. He might then end up being taken to a facility by ambulance.”
Judge Harney’s instruction was passed on to the prison and the accused was remanded in custody to appear again before the court later this week.
