Judge rules man is unfit to stand in sexual assault trial due to mental disorder

A judge has ordered that a man is unfit to stand trial for an alleged sexual assault on a child because of a mental disorder.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court but today the case was listed for a hearing to rule on his fitness to plead and to stand trial.

The court heard that in consultations with a forensic psychiatrist the man denied any wrongdoing and said that any sexual activity was consensual.

Judge Cormac Quinn noted that the man is obviously in need of community disability services and should be given as much priority as possible.

He commented that in previous cases where he has adjourned similar cases to allow them to get treatment he had found that the local disability services had done nothing in the meantime.

He said he had then ordered the local disability manager to appear and subsequently they appeared to take action when the seriousness of the matter became clear.

Dr Anthony Kearns, a forensic psychiatrist with the Central Mental Hospital, told the court that in this case the accused man's social and intellectual abilities were significantly impaired.

He said that, based on a number of formal and informal assessments, he concluded that the defendant would be unable to follow trial proceedings or to make a proper defence during a trial.

He said that there was no benefit to him being treated as a patient at the CMH and recommended that he be provided with adequate support in the community.

Judge Quinn ruled that the man is unfit to be tried by reason of a mental disorder and adjourned the case to July 16 next year for review.

Fiona McGowan BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court that in the case today the accused had been assessed by a number of psychiatric doctors and that the psychiatric evidence was uncontested.