Man petrol bombed Mulherin’s office during drug-induced psychosis

CRIME SCENE A fire engine is pictured at the constituency office of former TD Michelle Mulherin after it was petrol bombed in January 2015. Pic: Corinne Beattie

A BALLINA man who pleaded guilty to petrol bombing the constituency office of former TD Michelle Mulherin had suffered from a drug induced psychosis at the time of incident in 2015.
John Clarke of 187 Greenhills Estate, Ballina, caused €23,184 worth of damage to Ms Mulherin’s Fine Gael constituency office on Casement Street, Ballina on January 27, 2015 when he threw a petrol bomb through the window.
Mr Clarke had initially pleaded not guilty to the offence but changed his plea to guilty after the jury had listened to all the evidence. The trial heard that Mr Clarke admitted committing the offence but was suffering from paranoia at the time of the incident and was arrested under the Mental Health Act.
His legal team argued that he was not in a right state of mind due to a mental illness and the jury should find him not guilty by reason of insanity. However following legal argument, Judge Rory MacCabe said that based on the evidence he could not ask the jury to consider a verdict of guilty by reason of insanity.
Following Judge MacCabe’s ruling, Mr Clarke changed his plea to guilty and the jury were discharged.
The incident occurred at approximately 6.40pm on January 27, 2015 when Mr Clarke broke the window of the Fine Gael politician’s constituency office. He lit a wine bottle filled with petrol and threw it into the office. The office was empty at the time and nobody was injured.
Mr Clarke was quickly arrested later that evening after gardaí called to his home. Detective Garda Pat Ruane said when he spoke to Mr Clarke he said he did not make sense and talked of how he was being poisoned and the walls of his home were painted with drugs.
He was admitted to the Adult Mental Health Hospital in Castlebar where he was detained until February 20 when he was released.

Interview
He was interviewed by gardaí where he said he believed his water was contaminated and he was paranoid at the time of the incident.
Recalling the events of the day, he said he destroyed a mobile phone because he thought he was being tracked and later asked a man to telephone the gardaí to say a bomb was going to go off on Main Street, Castlebar.
He said he believed there were unlawful activities taking place in Mayo involving politicians and wanted to send out a message to Enda Kenny.
Mr Clarke said he filled a wine bottle with 87 cent worth of petrol from a filling station before the staff stopped the pump. When staff told him he was not allowed to fill petrol into a bottle he said ‘Don’t worry, I’m a respectable person’ and paid for the petrol.
Following his release from hospital, he said that was the way he was thinking at the time and was now ‘zero threat’ to Ms Mulherin.
The trial had heard that during Christmas 2014, Mr Clarke attended up to four parties where he binged on alcohol and drugs. The parties could last for over two days during which, at one time, Mr Clarke consumed €100 worth of cocaine over a few hours and consumed amphetamines such as mephedrone.

No evidence of psychosis
Dr Francis Kelly, a Consultant Psychiatrist in the Central Mental Hospital, said he met Mr Clarke in April 2016 and found no evidence of psychosis and he was stable. However, having read the reports following the incident he said it as clear he suffered from psychosis at the time and it was drug induced.
Dr Valentine Okechukwu, a Consultant Psychiatrist who treated Mr Clarke in the Adult Mental Health Hospital in January 2015, said he was delusional and mentally sick when he was first admitted.
He said he diagnosed that he also suffered from a drug induced psychosis but added that he was still showed psychotic symptoms despite having no access to drugs.
Dr Okechukwu said Mr Clarke knew what he was doing when he committed the arson but was driven by a psychotic experience to do something he believed in because he was delusional.
Following the re-arraignment, Mr Diarmuid Connolly, counsel for Mr Clarke, asked for sentencing to be adjourned for the preparation of a probation and psychiatric report.
Judge MacCabe granted the request and adjourned sentencing until February 14, 2017.