Assault case hears man believed he could escape fires of hell through portal in Cork college

The Croatian national was found to have been not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of assault causing harm to a prison officer in Cork Prison

He was also accused of breaking into the CIT College of Art building at Grand Parade on April 27, 2020. File photo: Darragh Kane

A Croatian national who feared the fires of hell believed that his only possible portal to safety was through a lift in an art college building in Cork and yesterday he was found not guilty by reason of insanity on an assault charge.

27-year-old Ante Brekalo was found to have been not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of assault causing harm to a prison officer three years ago on March 20, 2018, in Cork Prison.

Assault charge

The incident occurred when an officer attempted to give him an injection after the defendant had injured himself by persistently banging on the walls and door of his prison cell.

Psychiatric reports for this period indicated that he was suffering from schizophrenia and a mental disorder of a severe nature at that time.

Shane Collins-Daly said the psychiatric reports before the court yesterday in respect of the prison assault incident indicated that the defendant was acutely psychotic and injuring himself at that time.

Judge Olann Kelleher said he was totally satisfied to find that at the time of this incident the accused was not guilty by reason for insanity.

Break-in charge

There was another charge against the accused of breaking into the CIT College of Art building at Grand Parade, by the Nano Nagle pedestrian bridge, on April 27, 2020.

Psychiatric reports on the defendant for this period were not available yesterday. Judge Kelleher said he would deal with that charge in two months when the appropriate report was before the court.

Addressing the young man directly in Cork District Court Judge Kelleher asked: “How are you doing?” Brekalo replied: “Better. Now I am doing OK. I have no trouble sleeping. I live with my mother.” 

Mr Collins-Daly said of the defendant during the incidents: “He is not amenable to reason. 

He feels that he will be punished and burn in hell and the only safety is to escape through a portal within the art gallery building. 

"He could not resist acting on this delusion.

“Now he is engaging with community mental health and taking his medication and abiding by all the directions of the community mental health team.” 

In a similar hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in respect of other break-ins at the art building, Dr Ronan Mullaney’s psychiatric report showed that the defendant suffered from severe schizophrenia, complicated by a history of cannabis use resulting in bizarre persecutory feelings.