Central Mental Hospital has 38 on waiting list for 111 beds, Cork court told

A 58-year-old man in need of psychiatric treatment has spent the last eight months remanded in jail in the absence of a place at the Central Mental Hospital

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that the reason the Central Mental Hospital was unable to accept man was due to the fact that all 100 male beds and 11 female beds at the hospital were full. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The judicial order to send a man who has spent over eight months in prison to the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) is to be made again on Thursday, even though the CMH was unable to admit him last week because they are full and already have a lengthy waiting list.

Judge Helen Boyle said that the prosecution and defence were both of the view that an order should be made again to have 58-year-old Patrick Sibanyoni of Dundanion Lodge, Blackrock, Cork, sent to the CMH for treatment because his psychiatric condition is deteriorating in prison.

Judge Boyle said that she should make the order on Tuesday but that she would not do so until February 19 so that everyone was on notice of the order to be made.

Defence senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan said that different options had been explored in the past week, because the place was not available for the accused in the CMH, but that a legal basis could not be found for any other option. Prosecution barrister Imelda Kelly said the prosecution agreed with that view.

Dr Brenda Wright told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the reason the hospital was unable to accept Patrick Sibanyoni was due to the fact that all 100 male beds and 11 female beds at the hospital were full.

She told Judge Helen Boyle that in addition to being at full capacity, the hospital had a waiting list of another 38 people waiting admission including eight in homicide cases who were deemed not fit to plead due to their mental condition.

Judge Boyle said: “The reality is that if that if this man does not get treatment he will never be fit to plead.” The defendant was arrested in Mallow last May and charged with 24 counts of causing criminal damage to cars and premises in the town where it was alleged that he was involved in this escapade while completely naked.

Mr Sibanyoni came to the attention of the public and of gardaí in Mallow on May 19, 2025, when he smashed cars and the windows and doors of numerous premises at a time when he was walking through the streets naked.