A profoundly disturbed girl who, although not psychiatrically ill, was sent to the Central Mental Hospital last March in the absence of a more appropriate facility has told a High Court judge she believes she has been helped "an awful lot" and would like to remain there. Mr Justice Kelly yesterday said he had recently received a letter from the 17-year-old girl, dated April 17th, in which she made it clear she had settled down at the hospital and believed it would be a waste of her own hard work to move her to another detention facility. He made an order, supported by the State, the health board responsible for the girl's care, and the girl herself, directing her to remain at the Central Mental Hospital and he said he would review the matter in two months.
Earlier, Ms Mary Ellen Ring, appearing for the girl, said nothing had significantly changed in relation to providing a more appropriate place for the girl since March 10th when she was first sent to the Central Mental Hospital. Counsel said the girl wished to stay at the hospital but her guardian did not believe this was an appropriate place for her. The court had heard the girl was seriously disturbed and suffers from a severe personality and behavioural disorder. She was sexually abused as a child by an adult male and later by a brother, and has engaged in heroin abuse and prostitution. She was described as a serious danger to herself and others.
The girl was sent to the Central Mental Hospital on March 10th after she had been taken days earlier to the adult psychiatric unit of a general hospital following a crisis at a high-support unit where she had been detained. While in the psychiatric unit, she had cut her arms and neck with razors and threatened staff. The girl has had some 34 placements, including in foster care and high-support units but all had broken down.
The case again came before Mr Justice Kelly yesterday in the form of a review of the girl's period at the Central Mental Hospital. The judge heard evidence in camera from a consultant psychiatrist with the hospital and a social worker.