Psychiatric patient jailed for 10 years

A PSYCHIATRIC patient who carried out a “frenzied and savage” attack on a doctor, who is unlikely to return to work again, has…

A PSYCHIATRIC patient who carried out a “frenzied and savage” attack on a doctor, who is unlikely to return to work again, has been jailed for 10 years.

Anthony McMahon (32), Raheen Square, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, was released from prison a year before he stabbed forensic psychiatrist Dr Ananth Pullela (57) at a Limerick day hospital.

McMahon had been a patient of Dr Pullela’s in Limerick Prison, where he served part of a seven-year jail sentence for manslaughter, and later came under the doctor’s supervision at St Anne’s Psychiatric Day Hospital in Limerick after his release in late December, 2006.

On January 17th, 2008, McMahon stabbed Dr Pullela eight times because he was frustrated with the nature of his treatment, Limerick Circuit Court heard.

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After his arrest he told gardaí that he resented the fact that Dr Pullela had told him during a visit to the hospital earlier that day that he must take his fortnightly treatment by injection if he did not wish to be detained in hospital.

He returned to St Anne’s Day Centre armed with a knife, and after stabbing Dr Pullela and while running from the scene, he attacked Dr Catherine Byrnes, the court heard.

Dr Byrnes, a 64-year-old psychologist, feared she was going to be killed and retreated behind a photocopier where he stabbed her in the stomach.

Both doctors were hospitalised after the attack. Dr Pullela, who suffered eight stab wounds to his chest area, was in intensive care for 10 days.

Dr Burns, who has since retired, was said to have shown a “charitable attitude towards the accused” since the attack.

McMahon pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Dr Pullela, and also admitted assault causing harm to Dr Burns.

The court heard medical evidence from Dr Paul O’Connell of the Central Mental Hospital that McMahon suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and that at times has little or no insight into his illness. Evidence was also given that the 32-year-old is a threat to others, in particular members of his own family.

After his arrest he told medical professionals he would have killed his sister had he met her on the day he stabbed the two doctors.

During his evidence Dr O’Connell agreed with counsel for the State John O’Sullivan, that “anyone close to him is at risk of a homicidal attack”.

Before imposing sentence yesterday Judge Carroll Moran, described the case as “fraught with difficulty” because it involved someone with a mental illness.

He said the consequences of the attack on Dr Pullela were enormous and life changing.

“Dr Pullela is still severely traumatised psychologically, to such an extent that it is unlikely he will ever return to forensic psychiatry,” said Judge Moran.

He described the attack on the 57-year-old as “frenzied and savage” and said any one of the eight stab wounds he suffered could have killed him.

The judge said he had to take into account the danger McMahon poses and the fact that he had killed a man in 2001 as a result of “paranoid resentment”.