Jail sentence for drunk Magherafelt man who 'squared up to' pregnant nurse at Antrim Area Hospital
A drunk man was disorderly at Antrim Area Hospital and "squared up" to a pregnant nurse putting her in fear of being assaulted and he also banged on a triage room door and kicked wheelchairs.
Mark Francis Kennedy (35), of Sandymount in Magherafelt, also assaulted his then partner.
He appeared at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena on Tuesday, via video link from prison, for sentencing on two charges of assault and one charge of disorderly behaviour.
A prosecutor said the defendant was at the hospital with his partner and he had pushed her against a wall and tried to pull a cannula off her.
Kennedy was "kicking wheelchairs" and was banging on the triage room door demanding to get in when his partner was being assessed on November 2 last year.
He had been at the hospital for a number of hours and was "being a nuisance".
The court was told Kennedy had gone "right up into" the face of the pregnant nurse putting her in fear of assault.
A defence lawyer said the defendant had issues with alcohol and had attended the hospital "in an entirely inappropriate state of intoxication" and his behaviour had been "totally unacceptable".
The lawyer said the defendant had gone to the hospital to assist his partner "and he did the very opposite of assisting her and caused a nuisance and he accepts the court will take a very dim view of his behaviour in a hospital setting". The lawyer said he believed the couple are no longer together.
District Judge Nigel Broderick said the defendant had an "atrocious" criminal record of 120 convictions and told him: "Clearly you are a violent individual".
The judge said courts take a "zero tolerance approach to those who assault members of the Health Service" adding: "Their jobs are difficult enough as it is without being placed in fear from those attending or accompanying those attending the hospital for treatment."
He handed down a five months prison term and said it should start at the end of a sentence the defendant is currently serving.