Man who admitted poisoning his partner is given a suspended sentence

A CARLOW man who admitted poisoning his partner was told by Judge Eugene O’Kelly that it was a “shockingly reckless thing to do”, when he appeared before the local circuit court to be sentenced last week.

Judge O’Kelly had previously heard how 62-year-old Mark O’Neill, formerly of Cois na Coille, Pollerton, had secretly crushed up two Valium tablets and put them into a sandwich that he made for his partner of 30 years, Helen Nolan, last August. Evidence about the incident was heard earlier this year, when Mr O’Neill pleaded guilty to section 12 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, which is defined as ‘intentionally or recklessly administering, or causing to be taken, a substance which he/she knows to be capable of interfering substantially with the other’s bodily functions’.

Judge O’Kelly heard that Ms Nolan had asked Mr O’Neill to make her a sandwich while she was lying on her bed on the phone and that he made her a tomato sandwich with mayonnaise in it. Ms Nolan took a bite of the sandwich but it tasted metallic and unpleasant so she didn’t eat any more of it. The court heard that she immediately fell asleep and woke up the following morning feeling groggy and tired, so tired that she had to return home from work and go back to bed. When she entered her bedroom, however, she saw the sandwich was still by her bedside and that there were blue spots on the bread. She opened up the sandwich and saw crushed tablets in it, the court heard.

The investigating garda told Judge O’Kelly that Ms Nolan went to her GP to get checked and was given the all-clear but that she was advised to go to the gardaí and make a complaint.

Mr O’Neill was arrested and made full admissions about the incident while he was in the squad car on the way to the garda station. He told gardaí that he wanted to help his partner to relax because she was under a lot of stress and that was why he had given her the Valium.

Judge O’Kelly was given some background into Mr O’Neill’s life and was told that he had previously been treated for cancer and was still on medication, while Ms Nolan was being treated for medical conditions as well, but that their medications were kept in separate areas of the house.

The couple were together for 30 years, but their relationship had stalled and they effectively lived separate lives. Judge O’Kelly heard that Mr O’Neill didn’t work, didn’t drive, didn’t go out that much and that he relied on his wife socially. He had also taken care of his father, who is now in a nursing home.

In a statement she gave to gardaí, Ms Nolan said she had had seven car accidents in the months leading up to the incident and that she couldn’t be sure it had anything to do with being medicated. She also told gardaí that she’d only taken a single bite of the sandwich and “God knows what would have happened” if she had eaten the whole thing.

The case had been adjourned in March for preparation of a probation report and last week at the sentence hearing, defending counsel Ross Pratt O’Brien BL said that the couple’s relationship was now over and that Mr O’Neill had lost his permanent accommodation. He continued that the probation officer found Mr O’Neill to be open and honest throughout their interviews and that he had written a letter of apology.

Last week at the sentence hearing, Judge O’Kelly told Mr O’Neill that what he had done was “a shockingly reckless thing for anyone to do”, especially someone who was on medication and so knew that “administering medication surreptitiously was highly irregular”. He found the offence to be on the upper scale of gravity and that the headline sentence was two years and six months.

In mitigation, he reduced that to one year and six months but said the defendant had insight that what he had done was wrong, that he was at a low risk of reoffending and that the probation officer found he did not intend any harm to Ms Nolan. Judge O’Kelly then suspended the entire sentence for a period of two years and bound Mr O’Neill to keep the peace.

“He has used up any chance he’s had with this court in future,” warned Judge O’Kelly.