Suspended sentence for hospital disorderly

A 21-year-old man who was disorderly in Altnagelvin Hospital has had a three month jail sentence suspended for two years.
The courthouse at Bishop Street, Derry.The courthouse at Bishop Street, Derry.
The courthouse at Bishop Street, Derry.

Conor Mercer was also ordered to pay £250 compensation to the Friends of Altnagelvin for his ‘disgraceful’ behaviour.

Mercer, of Glendale Drive, pleaded guilty to one charge of disorderly behaviour on August 16, last year.

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It involved shouting abuse at a woman outside the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

The injured party was at the hospital with members of her family because her father was seriously ill.

She was at the entrance of the hospital when she saw a girl lying on the floor. Mercer was near the girl and said she wasn’t an alcoholic but was pregnant.

Mercer then began to verbally abuse the injured party, stating ‘what the f*** are you looking at. I know where you live and I am going to get that f****** son of yours’.

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He also called the injured party’s son a ‘ginger wee b******’.

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said his client accepted his behaviour was ‘totally inappropriate’.

He told the court Mercer had a ‘legitimate reason’ for being in the hospital, as his girlfriend was pregnant at the time and they were taken there by ambulance.

Passing sentence, District Judge Barney McElholm said this was ‘no way to behave in the confines of the hospital’.