System fails John as cry for freedom falls on deaf ears

JOHN Hunt turned 30 on Saturday and spent the day as a free man.

He is no criminal, but after passing the day with family and friends, he was forced to return to his place of residence for the last four and a half years — a psychiatric intensive care unit in Cork city where he is being detained under the Mental Health Act as an involuntary patient.

On the day we meet in the small and uninviting visitors room at the hospital where he lives, just a few days before his birthday, he is looking forward to getting out, and smiles widely at the thought.