Abusive man told garda he was ‘Jack the Ripper’

"Jack the fucking Ripper" was the name a man gave to gardaí who investigated a disturbance he caused at a hospital emergency department.

Otherwise known as Joseph Murphy, aged 24, formerly of Ballydaheen, Mallow, Co Cork, and now living in Limerick, he appealed a two-month jail sentence yesterday, imposed on him for his threatening behaviour.

Murphy was at Cork Circuit Appeals Court hoping to avoid imprisonment through the holiday period.

Judge David Riordan agreed to put the accused on a probation bond for two years instead of the suspended sentence.

Gardaí had responded to a call to assist staff at Cork University Hospital emergency department shortly before 11pm on the night.

Garda O’Leary said during the appeal: “He was threatening, abusive, and insulting towards staff at the hospital... He refused to give his name and address. All he informed me was that he was Jack the fucking Ripper.” It was only after he was arrested and taken to Togher Garda Station that he divulged his name.

In fairness to the appellant, the garda said that later that morning, on his release, Murphy was a completely different person and could not remember his behaviour on the night.

Barrister Alan O’Dwyer said emotions were running high for the appellant on the night because his brother had been injured in an assault. The response by the appellant was aggravated by the fact that he was highly intoxicated.

In relation to Murphy’s appeal against a four-month jail sentence on the charge of refusing to give his name and a concurrent two months for threatening behaviour, Judge Riordan put him on a probation bond for two years.

A charge of being drunk and a source of danger at the time was taken into consideration.