A DRIVER who is alleged to have driven at speed the wrong way on a motorway was trying the end his own life, a court was told.
The young man – who cannot named because he was before the court on a charge of domestic violence – was allegedly turned away by mental health and rehab services when he sought help.
Judge Carol Anne Coolican was hearing a bail application for the accused in the Limerick District Court.
She heard Garda evidence that, on February 13 this year, the man’s former partner alleged he stole her car after punched her in the face.
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Outlining the objection to bail, the Garda witness recounted how she spotted the car at an Applegreen service station later that evening.
“As I approached the driver, I could see he was on the phone to a female. The female shouted ‘he’s after robbing my car,” the Garda told the court.
The Garda said the accused then took off in the car and she “had to take evasive action not to be hit or dragged by the car”.
The witness said the driver turned onto the motorway, traveling in the wrong direction at speed while Gardaà followed, keeping the car under observation from the other side of the motorway.
The witness said the car traveled for around 12 kilometres before taking an off-ramp, again going against traffic.
When Gardaà caught up with the car, it had been abandoned and there was extensive damage to the front from a crash with another car on the motorway. The driver fled but was arrested a short time later.
“He put his own and other’s lives in danger,” the Garda witness told the judge. “One of the most concerning aspects is that there was a four-year-old child in the back of the car when the (alleged) assault on his former partner occurred”.
The woman got out of the car and took the child out before the accused drove off, the court heard.
The man’s brother took the stand in court to plead for him not to be kept in jail, where is was being held on remand.
“He has been crying out for help. He went that night to voluntarily sign himself into 5B (the acute psychiatric ward at UHL) but they turned him away.”
His brother told the court that, on the night, it was “his own life he wanted to end. He’s a great lad with so much potential but as soon as he puts a drug to his nose, it all goes to pieces.”
The witness said that his brother bounced back and forth between the mental health and addiction services.
“The mental health services say they can’t take him because he’s doing drugs. The addiction services say they can’t do anything because he has mental health issues. There’s just no help for him in Limerick,” the accused’s brother told the court.
He told the court that his brother has been offered a 12-week detox and rehabilitation course in Bruree.
He promised he would supervise the accused and support him through the rehab treatment.
“I’ll sleep in the bed beside him if I have to,” he told the judge. “If you let him take this chance, you will never see him in this court again”.
Judge Coolican said that she had to have regard for the possible danger the accused might pose if he committed serious offences while on bail and for the safety of the public.
She remanded him to prison with instructions that he receive all necessary medical and psychiatric help and evaluation “as a matter of urgency”.
He is to appear before the court again on February 24.
Readers who may be affected by issues represented in this article or experiencing problems around mental wellbeing can contact Samaritans free of charge on 116 123.
– Court Reporting Scheme