The director of the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) is to come to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court next Thursday concerning a "very sick chronic schizophrenic" who the court heard is a danger to society and his own family.
Judge Michael White requested the appearance of the director after being told that this man would not be accepted at the CMH because he wasn't suicidal, had not acted in a serious assault case in response "to voices in his head" and because there was a bed shortage.
Christopher Gleeson (20), of Corduff Green, Blanchardstown, who pleaded guilty to assault on October 18th, 2003. causing serious harm to a teacher, Edward Patrick Fanning, was remanded on continuing bail for sentence.
Mr Fanning (28), from Gorey, Co Wexford, told Judge White that his life was destroyed by thugs who left him for dead after he stopped them trying to hijack his car while he held a party for his son's first birthday.
Judge White said he was "shocked" to hear that Gleeson didn't qualify for admission to the CMH for treatment he obviously needed. He said there had to be a custodial element in his sentence that the court had to structure to ensure he was treated in view of the evidence that he could be a danger even to his own family.
Dr Brian McCaffrey, forensic psychiatrist, told defence counsel Isobel Kennedy SC that Gleeson couldn't get into the CMH because he wasn't suicidal and wasn't "hearing voices in his head". He only got necessary information from Gleeson "because I was aggressive in my interview".
Mr Fanning, in an emotional address to the court, said seven people attacked him, seven files were sent forward by the gardaí,
but only two people were charged. He said he was forced through intimidation to sell "a lovely house in a lovely estate" and now lives in rented accommodation.
"When are we going to call a spade a spade? When is the punishment going to fit the crime. I could have died there on the road. I could have left my son fatherless," Mr Fanning told Judge White.