A male psychiatric nurse who broke a patient’s nose when he punched him three times has been handed a nine month prison sentence.

Jailing Patrick Maguire at Craigavon Crown Court, Judge Patrick Lynch QC said it was “with some regret” that he was sending him to jail but added that “the public must have confidence that patients, difficult as they maybe...will whatever the circumstances be treated as dignified human beings and not subject to violence or humiliation by those into whose care they’re entrusted.”

Being assaulted by such patients is unfortunately the lot of the profession but retaliation such as here, cannot be tolerated and must be reflected in deterrent sentences. Judge Patrick Lynch QC

At an earlier hearing Maguire, whose age is not known, from Tollymore Brae in Newcastle, admitted causing actual bodily harm to the male mental health patient, wilfully neglecting the patient by failing to get him immediate medical attention for his nose and attempting to pervert the course of justice by “making an entry on the Datix system and handover sheet” on 27th October last year.

While Maguire confessed his guilt, his former co-accused and colleague 66-year-old John Kelly, from the Newtownhamilton Road in Armagh, was acquitted by a jury of ABH and willfully neglecting and ill-treating the patient.

'Episode with psychotic features'

The court heard last week and the judge repeated on Monday how the male patient, who suffers from a bipolar disorder, had been admitted to the Bluestone unit at Craigavon Area Hospital experiencing an “episode with psychotic features.”

The patient had become “extremely distressed” at the hospital’s emergency department, “threatening a member of staff,” before he was admitted to the psychiatric unit.

In the lead up to the incident, he had set fire to a bin in his room and had thrown a chair through the window.

Judge Lynch also recounted how the patient had been making comments “characterised by sectarian grandiose and paranoid delusions.”

In the early hours of 27th October last year, at around 4am, the man was standing against the wall in the corridor of the unit asking for another cigarette when Maguire took him by the elbow to guide him back to bed but the patient “threw a punch at the defendant.”

It was then however that “in retaliation,” Maguire “punched him three times, full blows” to the face, causing his nose to bleed profusely.

Captured on CCTV

The judge said while the incident was captured on CCTV, it was unclear whether it was the punches that felled the patient or that he was put to the floor by Maguire and Mr Kelly.

A female staff nurse who arrived on the ward asked what had happened and was told “that the injured party punched the accused and during the procedure, was accidentally hit in the face by a knee,” said the judge adding that it was clear from the video that Maguire gave his victim white roll to clean himself up while the area where it happened also had to be cleaned.

A doctor examined the patient the following day and Judge Lynch told the court it was “clear that the patient had a nose injury which deviated to the left with small abrasions to the face.”

“An x-ray uncovered, or disclosed that the nose was broken,” said the judge.

'Cover up'

Documents from the ward were seized after Maguire himself made a report but he had “repeated the lying account given to the staff nurse which gives rise to the count of perverting justice.”

Last week, prosecuting lawyer Nicola Auret told the court while she accepted Maguire had a clear record and had admitted his guilt, there were numerous aggravating features to the case including the “gross breach of trust, the assault of a very vulnerable man that the defendant was supposed to care for,” all of which was “compounded by his attempt to cover up what he had done.”

Repeating some of the mitigation points made by defence QC Charles McKay, Judge Lynch said the defence had submitted that Maguire’s retaliation had been an “impulsive reaction” but accepted “that what happened was out of proportion.”

Judge Lynch said the defence had highlighted that Maguire was “under immense pressure” at the time, “working additional hours in a hospital that was understaffed” and in circumstances where he had been “exposed to aggression over a protracted period of time,” had been held hostage by a patient and where a young patient in his care had died the previous year.

“The defendant has been working as a nurse for 38 years and, as the defence worded it, has never put a foot wrong but lost control on this occasion in an isolated incident,” said Judge Lynch.

'Confidence in care workers'

Concluding his sentencing remarks, the judge told Maguire he was taking into account all that he had read about him in the reports from probation and a consultant psychiatrist, his clear record and “exemplary” NHS service, character evidence from colleagues who spoke of his “professionalism” and the “heartfelt” testimonial accounts from his wife and sister.

He said that by pleading guilty, Maguire had acknowledged he had “fallen from the high standard expected of care workers” and despite all the matters in his favour, “it is however with some regret that I must say that the public interest in maintaining confidence in care workers must be reflected in the sentence imposed by the court.”

“It must be condign and must be exemplary to reflect societies revulsion when loved ones and relatives are subjected to mistreatment,” declared the judge.

At the announcement of the jail sentence, which the judge had warned him was likely, Maguire appeared resigned to it while female relatives in the public gallery wept quietly.

Outside the court, Maguire’s solicitor issued a statement commenting his the case “exemplifies the daily, overwhelming stressors existent on medical health professionals.”

“Trust authorities need to properly address the constant challenges attaching to the adequacy of healthcare staffing levels.”