Court told Waterford man masturbated in front of garda at Mercy Hospital

Medical staff attending to a 28-year-old man in a cubicle of the accident and emergency unit of Mercy University Hospital called for a security officer when the patient began to openly masturbate in front of them.

The incident occurred in the early hours of April 20, 2025.

A member of An Garda Síochána then attended at the scene and the young man was still engaged openly in a masturbation act with their genitals exposed.

The patient did not react in any way when the garda directed him to desist from his activity and kept masturbating in plain sight.

Yesterday at Cork District Court, Martin Halpin of Parliament St, Waterford, pleaded guilty to a charge specifying that “he intentionally engaged in offensive conduct of a sexual nature, contrary to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act”.

Defence solicitor Diane Hallahan said that earlier that day the young man had attended for a meeting with a psychiatrist at the hospital.

However, Judge David Waters said that this offence related to an incident at the accident and emergency unit of the hospital and not at a psychiatric unit.

Ms Hallahan said: “He is from Waterford city. He has no familial support. He is in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance.

“He does not know why he carried out his actions on the day.

“There is a suggestion he was seeing a psychiatrist as an out-patient earlier. He is very regretful.”

Judge Waters noted that the accused had been in custody since October 8 on this particular charge.

The judge imposed a sentence of five months, suspended on condition that he would keep the peace for the next two year- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.s.