Woman who carried out burglary at Cork house believed she was at home

A 42-YEAR-old woman who carried out an aggravated burglary while armed with a knife was so delusional at the time she believed she was at home and she screamed at others to get out.

Garda Anthony Garvey said he responded to the call to an apartment at Lancaster Quay off Western Road in Cork city.

“I was informed that a female entered with a knife. Rosemarie O’Sullivan was present. She was shouting and acting in an erratic manner.

“A window of the apartment was damaged and there was broken glass on the floor. She was not invited to the property,” Garda Garvey said.

Rosemarie O’Sullivan, of Ballybough Road, Dublin, and otherwise of no fixed address faced sentencing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Prosecution barrister Dermot Sheehan put it to the guard: “When you met her she was patently unwell and was dealt with under the Mental Health Act. She has been in prison or the Central Mental Hospital since that date – March 9, 2020.” 

Garda Garvey agreed with that suggestion.

Defence senior counsel Ray Boland said: “She was under the delusion that it was her apartment and she was telling people who were legitimately living there to get out, telling them to get out, that it was her property and of course it was not.”

Mr Boland said that after a long period at the Central Mental Hospital it was found that she was fit to plead. As soon as this finding was made she pleaded guilty to the aggravated burglary. 

“In effect she has served more than two years in respect of this matter, if we take the CMH to be custody, which it basically is,” Mr Boland said. More recently she has been remanded in prison custody.

Judge Dara Hayes said: “It is in her interests to have the matter put back for a probation report and I will remand her in custody for that purpose.” The judge put the matter back until April 25.