A man suspected of shooting himself in the head with a crossbow has been cleared by a Belfast court of assaulting an emergency department nurse.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard Kevin McNally told the alleged victim he wanted to use the weapon on her.
But although a judge questioned why a threat to kill charge was withdrawn, she ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict him of common assault.
The 34-year-old had already pleaded guilty to a separate offence of disorderly behaviour in the Royal Victoria Hospital’s emergency department.
McNally, of North Queen Street, Belfast, was admitted to the hospital with head injuries on November 15th last year.
According to staff nurse Jane Wilson the incident happened after they discussed his alleged suicide attempt. She claimed he woke up in the short stay unit and became verbally abusive, calling her “a scumbag”, when she made a phone call to police in connection with children who may have been at the defendant’s home.
Ms Wilson told the contested hearing how she made unsuccessful attempts to calm him down. “He was just shouting, that’s when he told me I would have good reason to be on the phone to police,” she said. “[He said] he wanted to shoot me with his crossbow . . . He was going home to get his crossbow.”
McNally left the hospital after making the alleged threat, she added. Asked by a prosecution lawyer how she felt at the time, Ms Wilson replied: “Really, really frightened.”
She told how she then made calls to social services and police, alerting them that a potentially suicidal person had exited the hospital.
Defence barrister Sean O’Hare insisted, however, that McNally had been referring to himself when he allegedly talked about “putting the crossbow bolt in further”.
The court also heard how police deployed an armed response crew to detain the defendant at a house in north Belfast later that day. He was initially held under the Mental Health Act before being medically assessed and then arrested for making a threat to kill.
Referring to the decision to drop that allegation, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said: "I was perplexed when that charge had been withdrawn and the assault remains."
She then granted a defence application to have the remaining charge dismissed based on the lack of evidence that any violence had been imminent.
“There was no apprehension of an immediate attack,” she said. “With some reluctance, on a technical point of the evidence I’m going to dismiss the charge.”
Adjourning sentencing on the disorderly behaviour charge until next month, Judge Bagnall stressed that McNally’s actions could not be tolerated. “I appreciate he had been through a trauma but this is just unacceptable in our hospitals.”