A man who acted in an aggressive manner towards staff at Mayo General Hospital, after his father asked that he be removed from visiting him in the ward, was before the holiday sitting of Castlebar District Court this week.
The court heard the man was in a drunken stupor from drinking the hand sanitisers which were located in the hospital. Judge Conal Gibbons said that the behaviour of the 27-year-old man on the day was shocking as a hospital “is not a place where there should be misconduct”.
On February 20 2011 gardaí were called to a disturbance at Mayo General Hospital. Gardaí took the elevator to the second floor and upon exiting observed Derek Humber, 31 Tyrawley Terrace, Ballina, lying on the ground and banging his fists against a wall. Humber was shouting abusively at the nursing staff.
The court heard that the defendant had been admitted to the hospital the night before with a slight injury to his arm. Humber’s father was in hospital at the time and the following day Humber visited his father’s hospital unit, however this caused the defendant’s father a lot of distress and he asked members of staff to remove his son.
Humber had on the day consumed alcoholic hand sanitisers — he was observed to take mouthfuls from every bottle of handwash which he passed.
Gardaí arrested Humber at 4.43pm for being threatening and abusive and for being intoxicated in a public place.
Humber was also before court for charges relating to an incident on February 6 2011. At 5.10am on that date, gardaí were called to a domestic disturbance at the Humber residence where Humber’s father asked gardaí to remove him from the house as the defendant was intoxicated and the family could not control him.
Humber was brought outside by gardaí where he acted in an aggressive manner towards them. He refused to leave the area when directed to do so and was arrested.
At Ballina Garda Station the defendant was searched and a broken top of a bottle was found in his pocket.
Three failure to appear at court charges were also against the defendant. Bench warrants were issued for these and Humber is currently in custody.Inspector Joe Doherty told the court that Humber has 47 previous convictions — two for robbery, 40 public order, one for using a mobile phone in prison, one for theft, one for criminal damage, and two for road traffic. The inspector told the court that he knows the defendant from Ballina and said Humber has a “huge alcohol problem”.
Denis Molloy, solicitor for the defendant, said the 27-year-old had been going through a depressed phase and had been self harming — that is why the gardaí found the broken bottle in his pocket.
The sister of the defendant, Sabrina Humber, told the court that Humber has been “a thorn in the family’s side” and that he needs to address his alcohol problem, which is now affecting his health as he has a heart condition and liver troubles from drinking.
Humber told the court that alcohol is “destroying my family as well as myself.”
Judge Gibbons said the incident in Mayo General “is in my mind serious”. The judge said the defendant’s behaviour on that day “was very strange”. Humber told the court, “I’ve no memory of it”.
The judge said: “You are causing misery to everyone you meet... especially to your family, yet your family are coming to your rescue.” Judge Gibbons added: “At the end of the day it’s for Mr Humber to solve his alcohol problem.”
The defendant told the court that he wants to attend Cuan Mhuire for rehab, even though he has attended the facility in the past. The judge said that he has no convincing evidence of this before him, but said he would consider it if he was given evidence at the next sitting of the court.
Judge Gibbons adjourned the decision to August 10 and remanded the defendant in custody to Castlerea Prison. The judge also asked if the prison doctor could prepare a medical report, or if possible a psychiatric one, to be furnished on August 10.
