Two men charged in relation to an incident where a man was allegedly doused in petrol and set alight in Tipperary at the weekend are experiencing mental health difficulties and require medical attention in custody, a court was told today.
Luke Caplice (28), with an address at Knockane, Ballylooby, Co Tipperary, and Chad Allen (27) of no fixed abode made their second court appearance in relation to the alleged incident at Knockane, Ballylooby, on Saturday night in which a man was badly burned.
Both men are charged with assault causing harm to the man at Knockane, Ballylooby, on October 11th contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, arising out of the incident, which has left the injured party in a critical but stable condition in hospital.
Both men are also charged with the theft of €100 worth of green diesel, €32 worth of petrol, €51.59 worth of kerosene, and two cups of coffee and Red Bull from Top Oil, Cashel Road, Cahir, Co Tipperary, also on October 11th.
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Mr Caplice is further charged with criminal damage to an Audi A6 car at Cois na hAbhann, Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, and with using false registration plates on a car at Top Oil, Cashel Road, Cahir, again on October 11th.
Both men had been charged in Dungarvan District Court on Monday and remanded in custody to appear at Clonmel District Court on Tuesday where their solicitor, Aidan Leahy, said both his clients were reserving their position on bail and consenting to a remand in custody.
Judge John O’Leary remanded both men to appear again at Clonmel District Court on October 28th by video link for the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) directions. He granted both men free legal aid and assigned Mr Leahy and fellow solicitor John Joy to represent them.
Mr Leahy said both men were suffering from mental health issues, and he asked Judge O’Leary to recommend that they receive all appropriate medical attention while on remand at Limerick Prison.
Judge O’Leary agreed and recommended that the prison authorities afford both accused appropriate medical attention for their respective mental health problems before adjourning the matter until October 28th.
At the earlier hearing at Dungarvan District Court, Det Garda Conor Gleeson of Cashel Garda station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to Mr Allen. He told the court that Mr Allen replied “It wasn’t me” when the assault and theft charges were put to him after caution.
Det Garda Kieran Hayes of Cahir Garda station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to Mr Caplice, telling Dungarvan District Court that Mr Caplice replied, “It didn’t happen” to the assault charge and “It wasn’t me” in response to the criminal damage charge.
He said Mr Caplice replied, “I had full intentions of paying back, my card didn’t work,” in response to the theft charge; in response to the charge of using false registration plates, he said Mr Caplice replied, “I damaged my plate and I made a mistake getting the new one made.”
