GETTING medical reports from Limerick hospitals for use in court cases, such as prosecuting an assault, is becoming difficult.
That’s according to Inspector Gearoid Thompson, addressing Judge Patrica Harney in a case before the Limerick District Court sitting in Kilmallock.
Before the court on a charge of assault was Stephen Leamy (49), of 15 Deebert Court, Kilmallock.
Judge Harney was asking for general information about the nature of the alleged assault to determine whether it could be dealt with in the District Court or if the alleged injuries were serious enough to warrant sending to a higher court with the possibility of stiffer penalties on conviction.
Inspector Thomson said that it is understood that Luke Staunton, the alleged victim in the case of an incident on September 7, 2023, “went to a Limerick hospital for treatment but I don’t have a medical report on that at this time. We are experiencing great difficulty in getting medical reports from the hospitals.”
Barrister for the defence, Donal Cronan, offered the judge a picture of the alleged victim’s injury, which had been provided to him by Gardaí from the prosecution file, but said he had not had any sight of a medical report either.
Looking at the photo, Judge Harney remarked that there “appears to be in excess of 10 staples in his head. This is a head injury and I really need more information before I can decide whether I can deal with it here.”
She adjourned the matter to November 19 for more information to be produced.
