A Galway man who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia was jailed for four years yesterday for the attempted rape of a teenager near a grotto of Our Lady. Mr Justice Smith agreed to recommend that Thomas Hickey (27), of Corrib Park, Galway, be held in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum and ordered that the man's psychiatric reports be forwarded to the prison authorities.
The judge rejected another application by Mr Patrick MacEntee SC that the defence be permitted to apply to the court if Hickey did not receive proper psychiatric care in custody. Mr MacEntee feared Hickey could end up being kept in jail and not moved to the Central Mental Hospital when he needed treatment. He said this was particularly sensitive given the case of Brendan O'Donnell who was moved "back and forth until he died".
Last week the Central Criminal Court was told Hickey suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had believed the IRA and the Catholic Church were conspiring to murder him. He pleaded guilty in June to the attempted rape of a 17-year-old in Newcastle on March 4th, 1996. He was in remission from his illness at the time.
Garda Ann Murphy told Mr Maurice Gaffney SC, prosecuting, that the victim was a stranger to Galway. She met the defendant and another person in Eyre Square around midnight. She walked with them after Hickey said he would bring her to a late-night shop on the Galway-Newcastle road to buy cigarettes. The other man left. As they crossed a bridge Hickey tripped the victim and tried to rape her.
He told her he had won a box of chocolates at a karaoke competition, and gardai traced him through photos taken at the event.
When questioned he denied meeting the woman. Garda Murphy told Mr MacEntee that the victim denied the man's claims she had wanted to "court" him.
Dr Philip Anthony Carney, of the University College Hospital, Galway, said Hickey suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and needed weekly medication. He would be unsuitable for prison. Since 1993 Hickey had been admitted to hospital several times suffering from delusions.
He was in remission at the time of the offence but was potentially dangerous when in an untreated delusional state.