A Co Kildare man who partially blinded a policewoman in the North has been jailed for seven years.
Craigavon Crown Court heard that 33-year-old father-of-three Raymond Smullen thought the police reservist and other officers in Lisburn Police Station "were in cahoots" with members of his motorcycle gang whom he believed in his "drug induced psychotic state" were out to kill him.
Jailing Smullen from Churchview, Kilmeague, Naas, Mr Justice Gillen, sitting in Belfast, said his case "bears terrifying and compelling testimony to the evils of drug taking in our society.
"The public must be made aware that the taking of these drugs can lead to drug induced psychotic states, particularly when combined with alcohol. "These are mood and behavioural altering substances and no-one should be under any illusion as to the perils of taking them," he added.
Mr Justice Gillen also warned that, "drug taking in this community is a major blight on the whole social fabric and crimes of gratuitous violence fuelled by drug taking and alcohol constitute a major source of public concern.
"In order to sustain the confidence of right-thinking people in the proper administration of justice and to adequately protect the innocent, sentences on those who act violently in the wake of drug taking must be severe".
Mr Justice Gillen said such sentences must also contain "a genuine element of deterence particularly where, as in this instance, the consequences were so devestating". He said police were "playing the Good Smaritan" when Smullen went beserk with an iron bar and launched his "savage and vicious attack upon them" in their Co Antrim station in the early hours of July 28th, 2003.
Smullen had been charged with attempting to murder the policewoman, but the charge was not proceeded with when he pleaded guilty to wounding her and two other officers and possession of cocaine.
Whilst high on a cocktail of drink and cocaine, he became paranoid and believing the gang were going to kill him, fled, seeking help from Lagan Valley Hospital. Smullen demanded they call police, who took him back to Lisburn Police Station where they offered to get him safely back across the border.
Left alone in the public waiting area, Smullen climbed through a window into the main office where, after arming himself with a five-foot long angled iron bar went looking for police he thought were "plotting to do you harm and kill you".
"The only reason you were at the station was because the police were playing the Good Samaritan attempting to assist you," said Mr Justice Gillen. However he said the end result has left one officer with "permanent life altering injuries - and relentless misery".
The judge added that despite a number of matters in his favour, "the violence of your behaviour on this occasion and the potential consequences for those that you attacked are so grave that only a severe sentence can meet the justice of these offences".
Mr Justice Gillen said Smullen's attack with a lethal iron bar was gratuitous and without provocation.