Margaret Buttimer allegedly assaulted while praying in prison cell

Psychiatric report ordered for Cork woman accused of public order offences at a hotel accommodating Ukrainian refugees

Margaret Buttimer at a previous sitting of Bandon District Court. Picture: Larry Cummins

A psychiatric report has been ordered for a grandmother accused of public order offences at a hotel accommodating Ukrainian refugees, with a judge also hearing she was allegedly assaulted while on remand in Limerick Prison when praying in her cell.

Margaret Buttimer, of no fixed abode but with a previous address in Bandon, appeared before Judge James McNulty in Bandon District Court on two public order charges (Section 5 and Section 8) arising out of an incident at a hotel in the town on January 26 last.

She had appeared before the district court in Clonakilty last Friday, when she had been refused bail and remanded to Limerick Prison.

In court on Thursday, Ms Buttimer, 68, had two black eyes and bruises to her chin and mouth.

She told the judge the injuries had occurred when she was “standing with the Lord”.

Ms Buttimer said she had been in her cell, which she shared with two other women, and had been praying.

“One of the people, the girls, she began tearing up the holy bible and burning the leaves,” she said.

“She took two crosses off the rosary beads and burnt them.

“I stood over her and I was praying to myself. This went on for a few hours.” 

Ms Buttimer said that at 2am another cellmate told her to go to bed.

“I said no one tells me to go to bed. So I sat in the chair. So she punched me in the head, she assaulted me inside the cell.”

The senior prison officer attending court said the incident had been brought to the attention of the governor and since the incident Ms Buttimer had been in a single cell.

Charges

On the charges that led to her coming before court, it is alleged that Ms Buttimer attended at the hotel in Bandon and demanded to know how many Ukrainians were accommodated there and the cost to the Irish public. She refused requests to leave, including from gardaí, the court was told.

Ms Buttimer was convicted in January of similar offences at the same venue and was sentenced just last week to seven and 21 days in prison, deemed to have been served as she had been in custody since before Christmas.

Her solicitor, Plunkett Taaffe, told Judge McNulty his client would be pleading not guilty to last week's alleged offences. 

Sgt Paul Kelly said gardaí would be objecting to any bail application. He nominated February 20 next for trial, with Mr Taaffe consenting to a remand until then for Ms Buttimer.

The judge also acceded to Mr Taaffe’s request for a psychiatric report on Ms Buttimer, directing that the Prison Service liaise with the outreach team of the Central Mental Hospital in that regard.

Judge McNulty said he was “saddened” to hear that Ms Buttimer had been assaulted in prison and asked that the governor “take extra special care of her”, outlining his concerns as to her vulnerability.

The court also heard of efforts to secure more family support for Ms Buttimer and Judge McNulty — who had previously flagged concerns that Ms Buttimer was possibly being exploited — raised the issue of a note she had handed him when the matter came before the court late last week.

He said the note was not in Ms Buttimer’s handwriting, something she confirmed to him in court. It made reference to her “political protest against the invasion of Ireland by foreign nationals” and made reference to “rapists and murderers”.

The judge said the note “might give me a little clue as to the unhelpful influence over this woman”.

He said it was time to “get to the bottom of this unhelpful nonsense”, adding: “Whoever it is has been filling her head with nonsense.”