By Charley-Kai John
A MAN who turned up at the General Hospital, swore at staff, paced around the waiting room and demanded to see a doctor has been bound over for a year.
Thomas Clark was warned that “there won’t be any further chances” when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court this week.
The court heard the 37-year-old appeared in the Emergency Department at 8.30pm on 22 April, refused to give his details and shouted at staff: “F*** off, I need to see a doctor.”
St Helier Centenier Shirley Madden, prosecuting, said he was asked to calm down but continued shouting and pacing around the waiting room.
She commented: “The staff said: ‘We could not get any sense out of him.’
“There were five other people in the waiting room, including a pregnant woman.”
Clark was sentenced for disorderly behaviour and causing a breach of the peace and admitted breaching a community service order imposed in March last year.
Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, said Clark had finished three-quarters of the CSO and also now had a steady job.
But she said he had suffered a brain injury in 2015 and was diagnosed with PTSD in 2022 and had ongoing mental health problems.
“There was no direct threat to anyone,” Advocate Dix said. “He attended A&E asking for help. He said: ‘My mental health is not right.’”
She argued: “He wouldn’t have committed the offence were it not for his mental health.”
Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu pointed out that Clark had been drinking at the time of the offending, which counted as an aggravating factor.
He decided to allow the existing CSO to continue but imposed the binding over order, saying: “If you commit another offence within 12 months you will be straight back in court and there won’t be any further chances.
“You’re getting one more chance.”