Prison remand not there to 'plug the gap' in mental health care, Cork judge says

On Thursday at Cork District Court when the accused appeared by video link from prison, there were concerns about his ability to plead guilty or not guilty to any charge due to mental health issues

The judge added that if psychiatric services were so bad that there was no provision for this man’s care he was not going to remand him in custody as an alternative. File picture

Thu, 01 Oct, 2026 - 19:59

Liam Heylin

A man who appeared to be unaware of his actions posing a danger to himself and others was released from prison by a district court judge who said that if the State was failing to provide some kind of mental health care “I am not going to plug the gap for the State by remanding him in prison”.

35-year-old James Spillane of no fixed address was in custody since September 25 on three counts of causing criminal damage to parked cars in Cork City.

On Thursday at Cork District Court when the accused appeared by video link from prison, there were concerns about his ability to plead guilty or not guilty to any charge due to mental health issues. However, there was no psychiatric report as the defendant has only been in custody for a week.

Garda Jane Delahunty testified today: “I believe he is a danger to the public, to the gardaí and to himself. He is a vulnerable person. I do not believe he is aware of what he is doing.”

Eddie Burke, solicitor, said the man would begin to answer a question but would quickly trail off into murmured comments that were not relevant. Judge David Waters agreed with that description on the basis of his own engagement with the defendant.

The judge said he was going to strike out the three criminal damage charges as he was not going to engage in “some kind of preventative detention”. He added that if psychiatric services were so bad that there was no provision for this man’s care he was not going to remand him in custody as an alternative.

The criminal damage charges arose out of alleged offences at 10.30pm on September 2 at Kyrl’s Quay, Cork, when three cars were damaged. When Garda Delahunty spoke with the accused that night: “He was behaving in an erratic manner, rambling and not making any sense to the conversation. He was seeing people who were not present.”