Patient punched nurse to the floor and under trolley

A nurse at Mercy University Hospital in Cork City was punched in the side of the face by an unruly patient who was being asked by another nurse to calm down. The culprit was yesterday jailed for two years.

Samantha Corbett, of Russell Place, Mallow, Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of assault causing harm to Eithne O’Flynn on July 26, 2014. The blow knocked Ms O’Flynn to the floor and under a trolley.

Corbett was sentenced to three years in prison. The last year of the sentence was suspended.

Judge David Riordan said: “Frontline health workers must be protected and courts must look to the principle of deterrence. They are entitled to expect that if assaulted in their work the courts will take the matters seriously. Otherwise courts might send out the message that it is all right.

“Having listened to the statement of Nurse O’Flynn, it is clear the consequences for her are pretty severe. She has injury into her spine and was lucky she did not sever her spine having regard to the manner in which she was caused to go into the trolley. This belongs at the higher end of the scale for offences of this nature.

“The probation report indicated there were chances after chances extended to her. And she commits this fairly horrific offence on Nurse O’Flynn.

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“She has an addiction issue of a serious nature. Attempts to break the cycle of alcohol addiction have not borne fruit.”

Ms O’Flynn, a staff nurse for 22 years, said yesterday that she always wanted to work in emergency medicine and, after 11 years working in this department at the Mercy, she felt she was skilled in it.

However, she said the assault had changed her day-to-day life and was left with neck pain on a daily basis.

“I wonder what I did to deserve this... I don’t know how much longer I will be affected by this injury,” she said.

Ray Boland, defending, said of Corbett: “She has various difficulties with alcohol and anger management.”

Garda Brian Murphy said Corbett had three previous convictions for assault. She was living in Mallow and availing of a women’s refuge in Cork City, he added.

In an interview with the gardaí, Corbett said: “I was in a physically abusive relationship for two-and-a-half years before this. I was off drink from October 2013. I relapsed with vodka and tablets. I collapsed and was taken to hospital by paramedics.

“I cannot remember much until I woke up in the Mercy. When I woke up the next morning, staff told me that I had assaulted the nurse. I am not disputing it, I just don’t remember it. If that’s what I done than I’m disgusted with myself.”

In court yesterday, she apologised to the injured party.

Mr Boland asked for an adjournment of sentencing to give Corbett an opportunity to take up a place on a residential treatment programme.

He said her difficulties stemmed from alcohol abuse and homelessness.

Mr Boland stressed that she had not come to the attention of gardaí since July last year when the assault occurred and said an adjournment would not put the public at risk. The judge noted the probation officer’s assessment that she was at high risk of reoffending.

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