THE head of the Central Mental Hospital agreed yesterday that the assessment of Mr Brendan O'Donnell during a stay at Ballinasloe mental hospital was "far from ideal".
Dr Charles Smith agreed with Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, that he would have thought the hospital had an obligation to carry out consultations and discussions regarding Mr O'Donnell with people such as the doctor who referred him and his sister who committed him.
Mr MacEntee said the staff at Ballinasloe had not taken any collateral history regarding Mr O'Donnell, or interviewed previous psychiatrists who dealt with him.
He said they also did not interview his sister, Anne Marie, who had him committed after he stabbed her in the knee, or Dr Fionnuala Kennedy, who had referred him to the hospital.
He agreed that the diagnosis from Ballinasloe regarding Mr O'Donnell was that he might be personality disordered and might have paranoid ideation. He said the Ballinasloe diagnosis did not differ from that which staff at the CMH had made earlier in 1990.
It was Dr Smith's fourth day of cross examination in the trial of Mr O'Donnell, which today enters its 48th day.
Mr O'Donnell has denied the murder of Ms Imelda Riney (29) and her son Liam (three) between April 29th and May 8th, 1994. He also denies the murder of Father Joseph Walsh (37), curate of Eyrecourt, Co Galway, between May 3rd and 8th, 1994 and the false imprisonment of Father Walsh.
He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Ms Fiona Sampson and Mr Edward Cleary on May 7th, 1994, and to hijacking vehicles driven by both persons. He has also denied having a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life and for unlawful purposes on the same date.
In court yesterday, Mr MacEntee read a medical note from Mountjoy Prison dated September 21st, 1994 which stated that Mr O'Donnell was "medically fit for punishment." Dr Smith said he regarded it as "totally unprofessional to think in those terms".
Mr MacEntee also put to Dr Smith that Mr O'Donnell had complained of seeing spots before his eyes in 1992, and again while on a lengthy hunger strike in 1994.
Dr Smith said one explanation could be the effects of starvation and dehydration. He would not have regarded spots before the eyes as in any way related to psychiatric illness or schizophrenia.
Counsel asked would the situation be different if Mr O'Donnell's seeing spots was accompanied by erratic behaviour, wandering off, confabulating and believing in late 1992 that his sister was poisoning him, and stabbing her.
Dr Smith replied "No." He said Mr O'Donnell was admitted to Ballinasloe mental hospital in 1992 and was not found to be psychotic.
Mr MacEntee read from CMH notes regarding Mr O'Donnell dating from April 1995 to February 1996. Several of the notes recorded Mr O'Donnell talking of hearing voices, having suicidal ideas and being depressed.
Dr Smith said the medication prescribed for Mr O'Donnell during that period was to deal with agitation, and was not related to any diagnosis of schizophrenia.
He said there were reasons for considering "malingering behaviour" by Mr O'Donnell.
He said he began diagnosing. Mr O'Donnell as not schizophrenic from May 1994, when he first saw him. He was quite persuaded during the period when Mr O'Donnell called everyone Seamus. He thought this was exaggerated and put on, and began to doubt his veracity.
Mr MacEntee put to Dr Smith that he saw Mr O'Donnell initially for just 10 minutes and on a second occasion for 30 minutes and had made his assessment on that basis.
The witness said he was not sure of the time involved but felt it was longer than that. He said he would always take sufficient time to make an assessment.
Dr Smith agreed that when he initially assessed Mr O'Donnell as psychiatrically deficient in May 1994 he had taken no collateral history, had no notes from Mr O'Donnell's time in institutions in England, had not spoken to a woman who gave Mr, O'Donnell a lift on April 28th," 1994 and was disturbed by his behaviour, had no information regarding Mr O'Donnell's dealings with his sister and other relatives, and no material from psychiatrists who had assessed Mr O'Donnell as a child.
He strongly denied a suggestion by counsel that his diagnosis of Mr O'Donnell as not schizophrenic was coloured by a determination not to have him in the CMH due to his being a major security problem.
He agreed he had taken Mr O'Donnell into Dundrum only after a court ordered him to during a lengthy hunger strike by Mr O'Donnell.
Dr Smith said it was his view that Mr O'Donnell had control over his hunger strike. He believed he had no illness to treat in Mr O'Donnell's case and there was "a lot of acting out behaviour".
The trial continues today.