A man who told gardaí he put Valium in his partner’s sandwich because she had been stressed and he thought he was “doing the right thing” has been handed a suspended sentence.
Judge Eugene O’Kelly heard Mark O’Neill’s partner of 30 years, Helen Nolan, discovered the Valium tablets in a sandwich he made for her last August after taking one bite. She said it tasted “metallic” and she immediately went to sleep.
Mark O’Neill (62), of Cois na Coille, Pollerton, Carlow, was in court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to an offence under section 12 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, which is defined as “intentionally or recklessly administering, or causing to be taken, a substance which he/she knows to be capable of interfering substantially with the other’s bodily functions”.
Judge O’Kelly heard at an earlier sitting of Carlow Circuit Court from defence counsel Ross Pratt-O’Brien that the accused accepted it was a horrific thing to do. He co-operated fully with the Garda investigation and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
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The investigating garda told the court O’Neill got sick in 2009 when he had cancer and that although he made a good recovery, he rarely left the house and did not drive, work or socialise.
When the case came back before court today on Friday for sentencing, Judge O’Kelly said the accused man’s partner was not aware of the substance in the sandwich. The accused said he took it upon himself to use it as his partner was going through a difficult time. It was a shocking thing to do, the judge said.
“It was a shocking incident, particularly with a person whom he knew had shocking medical issues which required lots of medication, so he knew perfectly well what he was doing to his partner,” said Judge O’Kelly.
The judge said O’Neill has no previous convictions and is at low risk of reoffending.
Judge O’Kelly imposed a sentence of one year and six months, which he fully suspended.
Speaking directly to the accused, Judge O’Kelly said: “I can assure you that you have used up every opportunity that is available from this court.”
The court heard the couple’s relationship deteriorated over the years to the extent that they could go days or weeks without speaking to each other.
Mr Pratt O’Brien told the court there was no violence or aggression in the relationship.
On the day of the offence, the court heard, Ms Nolan was in her bedroom on the phone when she asked O’Neill to make her a sandwich.
O’Neill returned with a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich and left the bedroom. The court heard Ms Nolan took a bite and it tasted metallic, so she put it down and did not have any more.
She fell asleep, waking the following morning still feeling “overwhelmingly tired” throughout the day. She returned home during the day to go back to bed.
Judge O’Kelly was told she saw the sandwich still on her bedside locker and noticed the bread had turned blue in places. Upon investigation, she saw blue tablets mixed into it. She went to her doctor, who said she was medically fine but advised her to go to the gardaí about the matter.
In a statement to gardaí, Ms Nolan said she had had seven car accidents in recent months but she could not be sure it had anything to do with being medicated. She also told gardaí she had only taken a single bite of the sandwich and “God knows what would have happened” if she had eaten the whole thing.
An investigating garda told the court O’Neill made admissions, saying he’d put “mayonnaise, tomatoes and two blue Valium tablets” in the sandwich.
He told gardaí he wanted Ms Nolan to be able to relax because she’d been stressed recently and he took it upon himself to do it, thinking he was “doing the right thing”.
O’Neill told gardaí they were his tablets and they could “knock a horse out for hours” they were so strong.
Judge O’Kelly was told O’Neill had denied ever doing it before and said he had no intention of harming her because she meant too much to him after she took care of him when he was sick with cancer.
