A judge was left with no alternative but to jail a man with an intellectual disability for nearly two years after his behaviour escalated to aggravated trespass and carrying a knife.
“What are the [Health Service] Executive waiting for? Something like Belgium the other day with the murder of two children and an adult?” asked Judge John Neilan when told the HSE had “no specialised secure unit in the country” that could cater for the defendant’s special needs.
“Is a situation going to develop where someone gets seriously or fatally injured?”
Before the District Court last Wednesday (January 28 ) was Alan McManus (24 ) with an address at Brawney Square, Athlone who was pleading guilty to 18 assorted charges committed between November 17 and January 10.
Half of these were public order offences, but amongst the remainder was a charge of threatening his father with a knife on November 29, punching a garda in the face on December 12 and assaulting a woman after barging into her home in Marine View on November 17.
An outstanding charge of possession of a knife in Mullingar on January 10 will be dealt with there on February 5.
His solicitor, Mr Padraig Quinn, told the court that though his client had “a chronological age” of 24, he had an IQ of just 62, where the lower threshold for normal intelligence was 70.
“There is underlying organic brain damage,” said Mr Quinn.
“All his behaviour is directly related to his intellectual impairment.”
Judge Neilan was concerned about where he could send McManus after John Cummins for the HSE told the court there was no specialised facility in Ireland for intellectually impaired offenders.
“He would be entirely vulnerable there [in prison] due to the predatory nature of those within,” said the judge.
“Are we to use the prison service to address the failings of the HSE?”
“There are no legislative ways we can detain him,” said Mr Cummins.
“Is he one of the unfortunates in life that the Executive fails?” asked the judge.
“The Constitution cherishes all equally but the Executive says ‘sorry’, you’re not part of the Constitution.”
Mr Quinn told the court his client was “not likely to emerge from a prison cell better than when he went in”.
“Dr Mohan [McManus’s psychiatrist] believes he has no capacity to learn from his behaviour.
“He is not expected to improve, even with the best the HSE could provide.
“In the eyes of the law, he is an adult and the HSE will argue they don’t have to support him because of his chronological age. This is supported by High Court decisions.
“You have a very difficult decision before you. The last place for him is in prison but you have no alternatives.
“It is unfair to put you in this position but no matter what the court does, it’s not going to improve his position.”
“There’s absolutely nothing I can do except administer justice in line with the law. I don’t have the answers,” said Judge Neilan.
“It is a matter for the people of the country to decide. It is a very sad case that one of the cherished - we can say children - is treated like this.”
He sent McManus down for 11 months for the aggravated trespass in Marine View on November 17 and gave him a consecutive 11 months for possession of the knife at his father’s house on November 29. All other sentences, including the assault on the garda were made concurrent.
