A nurse convicted of poisoning one patient and assaulting another at Naas General Hospital accepts that she will never be able to work as a nurse again, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told yesterday.
Her counsel, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, told the court Noreen Mulholland (35), Park Road, Portadown, Co Armagh, and previously of Runabeg Close, Kildare, had written to An Bord Altranais last month saying she consented to her name being removed from the register of nurses.
He also said she had written to the body that registered her as a nurse in New York, saying she was resigning from the register there.
Mr Ó Lideadha made his comments before Judge Frank O'Donnell adjourned sentencing of the nurse to December 18th to give him time to consider a psychological report on her.
And before rising he warned he would entertain no improper communications, as there had been in this case. "Fortunately I recognised the written communication and returned it unread," he said.
He added that nobody had the right to approach him about a case and anything to be said had to be said in court. He strongly emphasised that his comment had nothing to do with Mulholland, who was convicted by a jury last October of poisoning and assaulting John Gethings (77), Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, on March 1st, 2003.
She was also found guilty of assaulting Séamus Doherty (80), (also deceased) of Rathcoffey, Naas, Co Kildare, causing him harm between June 18th-19th, 2003, but was found not guilty of poisoning him on the same occasion.
The jury spent more than 19 hours deliberating before finalising its verdicts on day 20 of her trial.
Mulholland had pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly administering a substance, Serenase, to Mr Gethings and to Mr Doherty without their consent and knowing it was capable of interfering substantially with their bodily functions. She also denied assaulting both men, causing them harm on the same occasions.
Orla Crowe, prosecuting, told the jury Mr Gethings died on March 2nd, 2003, but emphasised it had not been the State's case that Mulholland was responsible for his death.
Defence counsel Mr Ó Lideadha said that on two occasions Mulholland "flipped out and used excessive force" which resulted in her being branded a killer in the media and in suggestions being made that she killed a number of people.
He said that although it was repeatedly stated in the reporting of the trial that the State didn't hold Mulholland responsible for Mr Gethings's death, it didn't take the branding away, and she suffered considerably as a result.
He asked Judge O'Donnell to consider a psychological report which outlined the effects of a sexual assault on Mulholland when she was nine, for which a neighbour was later convicted.
He said she also had a very troubled childhood after "suffering greatly at the hands of her father" and was hospitalised as a teenager in 1986 following a suicide attempt.
The court heard Mulholland had no previous convictions and she regretted the distress she had caused to the victims' families.