€3,800 psychiatric report a disgrace, says judge

A JUDGE has described as “an absolute disgrace”, the €3,800 cost of a psychiatric report for a prisoner who scammed a man of €380.

And separately, a second judge has threatened to refuse certification for any psychiatric reports paid for under the legal aid scheme which he finds to be “premature and unnecessary”.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard a psychiatric report costing €3,800 was ordered for Stephen Mangan, aged 35, of Primrose Gardens, Darndale, who was convicted of scamming a man out of €380 on Ebay and using a computer to make false documents.

The cost included one session with the man to assess his psychiatric state and was paid for by the state.

Judge Frank O’Donnell said the report was of no use in deciding a sentence and contained no information that couldn’t have been given to the man’s legal team.

“These reports are being ordered like confetti at a wedding. They should be informed of my view that there is absolutely nothing in that that assists me whatsoever,” the judge said.

He expressed disbelief when told the cost of the report and that it comprised one session with Mangan. “You’re not serious,” he told Cormac Quinn, defending, when told the cost. “That’s an absolute disgrace.”

Mr Quinn said the psychologist spent a considerable amount of time with Mangan and carried out a number of tests.

A second Circuit Court judge yesterday also spoke against the practice of “prematurely” ordering psychiatric reports paid for under the legal aid scheme.

Judge Desmond Hogan was speaking at the sentencing of a Nigerian man for possession of just over €2,000 of cocaine. A psychiatric report was handed into court by the man’s defence team which was prepared before evidence had been heard in the case.

The judge said he found the reports an unnecessary cost to be borne by the state in a lot of cases and had little doubt that the Probation Service could provide an adequate report at little cost.