Appeals sentence for punching nurses in ED

A young man, who abused gardaí and assaulted nurses at Cavan General Hospital, has appealed an eight-month jail sentence on the grounds of severity. A new probation report in the case has been sought by the appeals court, which is also allowing the appellant to pay €4,500 in compensation to his victims.

Aidan Ennis with an address at Bexcourt View, Bailieborough, was jailed by Judge Raymond Finnegan at Cavan District Court in November 2024 after he pleaded guilty to the litany offences stemming from the same incident at Cavan General Hospital on December 27, 2023.

He lodged an appeal against severity, with the hearing taking place before Judge Sarah Berkley at Cavan Circuit Court recently.

State Solicitor Rory Hayden told the court that, at 12:10am, gardaí responded to Ennis lying on the footpath at Main Street in Cavan Town “passed out”. He was “visibly drunk” and “vomiting” and arrested for his own safety. He had a cut to his head to his head and a bloodied nose and gardaí brought him to Cavan General Hospital.

However, Ennis became abusive to gardaí, telling them “you will see what you’ll f**king get if you put your hands on me”.

Gardaí left but returned quickly following a commotion to find Ennis being “restrained” by medical staff and paramedics.

It transpired that, when Ennis was taken to the A&E he punched the nurses, one of whom was dragged across the floor by the tunic by Ennis.

He said “f**k you you black n**ger” to one member of staff and continued to be abusive and aggressive to others around him.

Victim impact statements were handed into the judge, with one nurse saying that, in 25 years working in healthcare, they had “never” witnessed “such behaviour” before.

Ennis received four consecutive two-month prison sentences for assaulting the three nurses, and for using threatening or abusive behaviour at Cavan General.

Other charges of intoxication and threatening behaviour were taken into account.

He had previous convictions, including for providing false information and also making threats to kill.

Ennis' solicitor Catherine Taaffe said her client had “no memory” of what happened.

She added that he was having “personal issues” at the time.

But Judge Berkley said the level of offending was at the “upper end of scale” regardless.

She was assured by Ennis' solicitor that her client had the ability to offer €4,500 in compensation having obtained employment as a lorry driver.

The case was put back to October for an updated probation report.