Man who spat blood at gardaí sentenced to four years for violent hospital outburst

A Dublin man who chased a nurse, grabbed a patient’s drip and spat blood at gardaí during a violent hospital outburst has been given a four-year sentence.

Raymond Neeson (aged 34) was brought to the Mater Hospital in an aggressive and intoxicated state, chased after the staff nurse, verbally abused a security guard and took hold of another patient’s drip pole before he spat blood at two arresting gardaí and threatened to infect them with HIV.

Garda Gary Moran revealed that subsequent HIV tests showed Neeson, of Coultry Drive, Ballymun, is not infected with the virus.

The father-of-one pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Ms Siobhan McNamee, assaulting garda Moran and producing a steel chair in the course of an assault at the Mater Hospital A&E on November 18, 2008.

He has 80 previous convictions including violent disorder in a garda station, failing to comply with gardaí, public order offences and two for impeding a person providing a medical service in 2009.

Judge Patrick McCartan had described Neeson’s behaviour as “blackguardish” after hearing the evidence on a previous date and said: “He’s been doing this for as long as he’s had legs under him”.

Judge McCartan today imposed a four-year sentence backdated to March when Neeson went into custody.

Garda Moran told Ms Elva Duffy BL, prosecuting, that he was called to the Mater Hospital’s A&E after a patient who had been brought in by ambulance became aggressive and began shouting about seeing his mother.

Neeson had had a seizure before he was taken to hospital, had a laceration to the back of his head on arrival and told everyone he was HIV positive.

He threw himself on the ground, continued shouting and said to Ms McNamee: “Were you around in 1916? You f***ing weren’t, you Northern bitch. I’m HIV positive.”

Neeson then ran at the nurse, told the security guard who blocked him to “go back to Poland” and started banging his head off a wall.

He chased Ms McNamee into the nurse’s station at the centre of the unit and grabbed another patient’s drip.

Garda Moran told Ms Duffy that McNamee was escorted into a smaller room away from the other patients, that he picked up a swivel chair in this room, threatened the nurse again and remained aggressive when gardaí arrived.

Garda Moran said Neeson spat blood at his chest in the garda car and threatened to give him and his colleague HIV.

The garda agreed with Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, defending, that Neeson let the patient’s drip pole go within seconds saying: “I wouldn’t do that to a patient”.

The garda further agreed Neeson had proved negative for HIV in a subsequent test, but that he has a drink and drugs problem and has spent a lot of time homeless and in custody.

Mr Le Vert said that his client wished to apologise for his behaviour.

Counsel said his Neeson, whom he described as intelligent, had been making progress with getting clean from drugs but had relapsed late last year when his brother died suddenly.

Neeson is serving a three month sentence for a public order offence because of this relapse.

Mr Le Vert asked Judge McCartan to take into consideration that his client is at risk of being institutionalised.

Judge McCartan had today initially adjourned the case for a number of months to allow Neeson to reduce his methadone intake and become drug free with a view to attending residential drug treatment but Neeson later indicated through Mr Le Vert he would prefer to be sentenced today.

He said not he was not refusing to take the chance offered, but that it would take him a considerable time to become drug free.