Man ordered to stay away as court hears he believes Cork art college a portal to another dimension

Notice was served in court yesterday on a Croatian national to stay away from an art college building in Cork and not to harass staff at the premises.

In a previous case, it emerged that the respondent was trying to gain access to a portal to another dimension where he would be safe from demons.

Barrister Cian Cotter brought the application before Judge Helen Boyle at Cork Circuit Court against Ante Brekalo, aged 26, who allegedly broke into the CIT College of Art building at Grand Parade, by the Nano Nagle pedestrian bridge.

Mr Cotter said Mr Brekalo trespassed at the building on April 27 and that this followed three previous incidents of trespass dating back to June 17, October 10 and October 13, last year, he said.

Judge Boyle granted the injunctive relief sought by the CIT, requiring the respondent not to attend at the premises or harass staff.

The judge adjourned the case for mention in a week’s time. Mr Cotter said he was aware that the accused had been a resident of a mental health services unit in Cork and that he would write to the director of that facility, notifying him of yesterday’s injunction against Mr Brekalo.

Previously, at a criminal trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court Mr Brekalo, who is in his mid-20s, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to seven different charges.

The jury took only a few minutes to deliver a verdict that he was not guilty by reason of insanity on all seven counts.

All of the counts related to the same place – CIT Crawford College of Art and Design at Grand Parade, Cork.

He was charged with burglary whereby he allegedly trespassed with intent to attempt to cause criminal damage or to cause damage on December 18, 2017, December 29, 2017, and again on January 4, 2018.

Tom Creed, defending, read from a background psychiatric report on the accused during that October 2018 trial to the effect that Mr Brekalo was so agitated on one of the occasions that it required five gardaí to arrest him.

Mr Creed said that the defence accepted the facts outlined by the prosecution of the defendant breaking into the art college and resisting arrest in the manner described.

Mr Creed read from Dr Ronan Mullaney’s background report on the accused which gave details of the psychotic condition of the accused that made him unable to refrain from committing the act.

He became convinced that it was through the art college that he could gain access to a portal to another dimension and that he would be safe from demons in this dimension.

Mr Creed said Dr Ronan Mullaney’s report showed that the defendant suffered from severe schizophrenia, complicated by a history of cannabis use resulting in bizarre persecutory feelings.