'We've thrown the baby out with the bathwater' judge highlights mental health failings over Athlone assaults

By Tom Tuite

A Cork man turned up in Athlone planning to take his own life and left a grandmother disfigured during a random attack spree, a court has heard.

Tim Dennehy's case, stemming from five assaults, mainly targeting women, prompted Judge Keenan Johnson to criticise the numbers in jail due to insufficient mental health services. He warned that this issue has become commonplace.

"We have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, which has resulted in so many people in prison when they should be in psychiatric hospitals," he said.

Dennehy, of Glanmore, Ballyhea, Charleville, Cork, launched unprovoked assaults on four women and one man in the midlands town on April 2nd last year.

In September, he was jailed by Athlone District Court for 17 months for most of the incidents.

However, one of them was deemed too serious and severed from the other charges to be dealt with at the higher level.

Dennehy, appearing via video link, pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm and minutes later had to have his microphone muted due to constant interruptions.

He demonstrated no remorse, and sentencing was adjourned until later this month.

Garda Breda Fahy told the court that the woman was collecting her grandchild from crèche when Dennehy, who was shouting profanities, punched her in the nose, causing her to bleed heavily.

He later said, "Why should I get out of her way when she was not paying attention to her life?"

The woman's victim impact statement revealed that she now fears going out. She had multiple fractures to the right side of her face and felt that she looked different now, saying her cheekbone was at a different angle than before the attack.

Earlier that day, he lunged at three women who were struck with single blows while out walking in the town.

A male was shoved in a shop where Dennehy asked for a handgun and bullets. One of the women was threatened, "I'll fucking kill you bitch."

The court heard he had been contemplating suicide when he arrived in the town, suffering from psychotic episodes.

When he later spoke about the incidents, he complained about people blocking him on the footpath and demonstrated misogynistic beliefs.

He had 11 previous convictions, mainly thefts, and the judge was struck by his lack of a criminal record until the age of 41.

Defence senior counsel John Shortt said Dennehy had been well-known to mental health services in Cork but had ceased medication compliance, and there was a previous diagnosis of schizophrenia.

When he went into custody last year on remand, he presented as "acutely psychotic".

The court also noted, based on a pre-sentence report, that he used a "warped justification" for his actions.