THE Southern Health Board does not have a therapy programme for sex offenders and those who seek help have to be "contracted out" to other regions or to units in Britain, a court was told yesterday.
Mr Patrick Madden, the health board programme manager for community care, said the focus was on helping the victims rather than the offenders; consequently there were no secure or voluntary programmes for offenders in the health board area.
Mr Madden was giving evidence to the Central Criminal Court in the case of a 17 year old mildly mentally handicapped youth who raped an eight year old girl in Cork in 1993.
Mr Sean Lynch, defending, said his client had a mental age of nine band was unsuitable for prison. Requesting a suspended sentence, he said the youth had been anxious to cooperate with treatment in Britain but it had not worked out.
The case had been adjourned for a year to allow the defendant to continue treatment at the Chase Farm Hospital in Britain, which had been organised in 1996 by his sister who claimed he had, not received any help since the case came to light three years before.
She said the therapy had begun to break down the "wall of silence" which surrounded her brother who suffered from a learning disability.
In April, Dr James Eva of Chase Farm said he could not continue treatment as the youth had failed to comply with all the conditions laid down. He had no power to compel him to obey.
The health board was summoned by Mrs Justice McGuinness when Mr Tom O'Connell SC, prosecuting, said it "should not be allowed to walk away from its responsibility".
At yesterday's hearing, Mrs Justice McGuinness said she was concerned that sending the youth to jail or the Central Mental Hospital might not be the best thing to do. An "excellent" report by Dr David Dunne of the health board had suggested the defendant needed secure accommodation of a specialist nature", she said.
However there seemed to be little for sex offenders in the area. "I find it very hard to believe that there are no other young sex offenders in need of treatment there," she said.
While she had gone as far as possible to explore the non custodial options available, she still felt imposing a custodial sentence was undesirable. Adjourning the case to June 18th, Mrs Justice McGuinness said she would deliver a written judgment.
Mr Madden agreed with counsel for the health board, Mr Gerry Healy SC, that the two issues were rehabilitation and a secure environment. There were no secure units in the health board area and a voluntary unit was "a long way down the road". Mr Madden said services to offenders would be "contracted out" to other regions or to places like Chase Farm.
A voluntary community based programme operated in Donegal on an adhoc basis when six to eight offenders came available. They lived in the community and met for a few hours a day.
Mr Madden said he was not aware of any national initiative to set up such programmes but a recent report by a Southern Health Board working group suggested the establishment of a voluntary unit. He agreed that "at the moment we are stuck with Arbour Hill [prison]".
Asked to outline the kind of psychiatric services available in" the south for children with behavioural problems, Mr Madden said one consultant psychiatrist operated an outpatient clinic in St Finbarr's Hospital, Cork.
There were no inpatient facilities and the board "negotiated" for places with other regions such as Galway. Acute admissions were put in a general hospital until a place could be found. While there was a secure unit for girls with behavioural problems, no such unit existed for boys, said Mr Madden.