‘traumatic’ | 

Alcoholic who grabbed nurses by the throat and threatened ‘I will end you’ is jailed

Stephen O’Neill entered guilty pleas to two counts of common assault

Today at 14:57

An alcoholic who grabbed two nurses by the throat and forced them to flee a hospital ward to seek safety was handed a five month jail sentence on Tuesday.

District Judge Nigel Broderick told Stephen O’Neill that while neither victim sustained serious injury, nevertheless “grabbing a nurse by the throat is a serious matter and would have been very traumatic” for the victims.

“They are there to provide you with treatment and assistance, not to be assaulted in any shape or form,” he told the 42-year-old adding that while veteran barrister Stephen Law had entered an “eloquent plea in mitigation…in my view the custody threshold is properly crossed.”

“The courts need to deal robustly with those who visit violence [on medical staff] and really, there should be zero tolerance,” warned the judge who, although he jailed O’Neill, freed him on his own bail of £500 pending an appeal of the sentence.

At an earlier hearing O’Neill, from Markstown Grove in Cullybackey, had entered guilty pleas to two counts of common assault arising from an incident on 18 June this year.

The court heard that having been admitted over an incident of self harm the preceding day, O’Neill told staff on the ward that he was going for a smoke but instead he went to a nearby Tesco, bought a bottle of vodka and drank it before returning to the ward at around 01.30.

A prosecuting lawyer told the court that when the male nurse told O’Neill he was treating another patient, the defendant “became verbally and physically aggressive, pushing the nurse in the chest with both hands.”

He turned and walked away from the defendant but O’Neill “pursued him” and threatened the nurse that “I will end you.”

The nurse “stopped at the nurse station with the defendant still pursuing him and he grabbed the nurses hands” and when his female colleague tried to intervene and clam O’Neill down, “he put his hands around the female nurses throat.”

When her male colleague tried to help, O’Neil instead “turned his attention” back to him and put one of his hands around his throat but he was able to block his other hand.

Having broken O’Neill’s grip, the male nurse “ran around the nurses station with the defendant still pursuing him” and eventually, both victim’s fled out the door to safety.

Other staff intervened and by the time the police arrived on the scene, O’Neill was being restrained.

Mr Law conceded “it’s no credit” to O’Neill that no injuries were inflicted and also that “his behaviour was totally reprehensible and disgraceful” committed as it was “at this place of sanctuary.”

The barrister told the court while O’Neill had previous convictions most of them related to his addiction to alcohol, a problem which had existed since his teenage years.

Accepting that whether O’Neill was allowed to remain in the community “is a big if,” Mr Law highlighted that the defendant is undergoing counselling for his drink problems, his wife is heavily pregnant and he has a firm job offer as a distribution manager with a local supermarket.

Arguing that a combination order were offer O’Neill both the support of probation and the chance to put something back into the community, the barrister revealed that O’Neill would “like to give a face to face apology” to his victims.

Jailing O’Neill, DJ Broderick said the fact that he had voluntarily left the hospital and bought a bottle of vodka which he then consumed was a “significant aggravating feature.”