A 27-year-old heroin addict who escaped from Garda custody last week after being arrested on suspicion of shoplifting has been told it is not possible to get her the treatment place she says she needs to overcome her addiction.
Rachel Keogh was refused permission to live at her home at Mercer House in Dublin and must remain on remand in Mountjoy prison.
Appearing before Judge Derek McVeigh at Dublin District Court yesterday, her solicitor, Ms Fiona Brennan, told the court that her client "urgently required" treatment at the Cuan Dara detoxification centre at Cherry Orchard hospital in Dublin.
If such a place were not immediately available she asked that Ms Keogh be allowed to stay with her mother until such time as this was the case. This request was refused by the court.
Ms Brennan said her client feared that if she was sent back to Mountjoy Prison she would be placed in a situation where drugs were constantly present.
Ms Keogh has been a drug addict since the age of 13 but has previously beaten her addiction before succumbing once again.
She is in a "very poor physical" state and is also not in a very good psychological state, Ms Brennan warned.
But she noted that Ms Keogh has been attending the national drugs treatment centre on Pearse Street, Dublin, where she received a heroin substitute and has her wounds dressed daily.
Ms Keogh was rearrested yesterday at her mother's Dublin home after notifying gardaí of her whereabouts. She is facing two charges relating to alleged shoplifting offences, and a third for escaping Garda custody on July 2nd - the day after her arrest on South William Street in Dublin.
She had three outstanding bench warrants against her at the time of her arrest.
While in custody, Ms Brennan said her client had received medical treatment but had not received enough of the heroin substitute she requires to meet her addiction.
Arresting officer Det Garda John White told the court the defendant had "effectively walked out of Garda custody" at Pearse Street Garda station last week. She had been due to appear in court the following day, July 3rd. He added that when rearrested yesterday, Ms Keogh made no reply to the charges. Ms Keogh was visibly upset throughout much of yesterday's hearing.
Earlier, Judge McVeigh adjourned the hearing to allow Garda White to ascertain whether a treatment place at the Cuan Dara centre was available.
When the case resumed, Garda White told the court that this was not possible without a referral from the regional medical director. This was not available at the time of yesterday's hearing.
The court would do "all it can to assist her", Judge McVeigh said. However, he noted that he also had to address the charges presented against Ms Keogh.
He remanded her in custody until Thursday, with a recommendation that the authorities in Mountjoy arrange for immediate medical assessment and treatment. He also ordered that a medical report be brought to court.
Speaking outside the court yesterday, Ms Keogh's mother, Linda, told reporters that when her daughter first started to take drugs at the age of 13 she had been told that she could not be classified as an addict for treatment purposes until she was 18.
"Nobody wants to know," she said. "They just want to lock them up and throw away the key."