The lack of immediate mental health support for a woman who had set fire to the family home was highlighted by her brother yesterday.
The 28-year-old mother-of-three set fire to the house in the early hours of September 25th, 2005. On Monday, the Central Criminal Court imposed five suspended life sentences on the woman for four attempted murder charges and one arson charge.
Mr Justice Paul Carney heard that her husband and children had stood by her and said the sentences were being suspended on the basis that she obey all medical and psychiatric treatment. She had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The woman's full name cannot be given for legal reasons.
Speaking on RTÉ's Liveline yesterday, her brother Peter said the family was "left in a limbo" in the immediate aftermath of the fire.
He is a psychiatric nurse in Britain and he returned home as soon as he heard about the fire.
He went to the District Court where she was charged. "She got bail . . . to my care, for me to take her and get psychiatric help for her which I found quite shocking. That basically I'm handed my psychotic sister inside the courtroom and told to put her in my hired car . . . and drive her to the nearest psychiatric unit," he said.
He eventually found help through an A&E department. "It was lucky that I was around, but I hate to think what might have happened if I wasn't about," he said.
In Britain, she would have seen a psychologist or psychiatrist at the court and been assessed before the case, he said. "There was no access to any sort of psychiatric assessment at the court. That she appeared into court without actually seeing a psychologist . . . I found quite disconcerting really".
Peter said his sister now had a range of mental health supports but "it is difficult to get out-of-hours help . . . until you are in the system".
"It's very hard to get the right sort of help. There's a great shortage of psychologists in the country."
According to Peter his sister had become increasingly anxious and paranoid before the fire, as the pressure of modern living, children and debt became too much. He praised Mr Justice Carney for his handling of the case and said the sentence best served everybody.
