Surgeon had 'psychotic episode' when he thrashed restaurant and assaulted guests
By David Raleigh
An orthopaedic surgeon was having a psychotic episode when he allegedly assaulted three people and caused €40,000 worth of damage at a Limerick hotel, a court heard Wednesday.
Dr Emmett Cullen is on trial at the Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, having pleaded “not guilty by reason of insanity” to five criminal charges. At the same time, he was a guest staying at the Clayton Hotel Steamboat Quay, Limerick, on May 4th, 2023.
Dr Cullen, Silverbrook, Mill Road, Corbally, Limerick, is accused of one count of causing criminal damage, three counts of assault causing harm, and one count of using a fire extinguisher as a weapon, on the second night of a two-night stay at the hotel.
CCTV footage harvested from the hotel and played in court showed a man identified by gardai as Dr Cullen, armed with two fire extinguishers, thrashing the lobby, bar and restaurant and kitchen area, and discharging the contents of the fire extinguishers around the hotel.
The prosecution also alleges Dr Cullen assaulted two female hotel patrons in their 70s by smashing glass with one of the fire extinguishers, causing cuts to the women’s hands; and that he struck a male guest on his arm, cutting it, with the fire extinguisher.
Several other guests who were staying at the hotel told gardai they saw a man, identified on CCTV as the accused, chasing two young children in the hotel and calling them “evil”.
The court heard Dr Cullen has compensated the hotel for over €40,000 worth of damage caused to fixtures and fittings on the night.
Gardaí gave evidence that the accused was eventually subdued on the night when armed gardai tackled him to the ground after pepper spraying him, and after a shot was discharged from one of the garda’s tasers, the shot appeared to have had no effect on him.
At the scene, Gardaí detained Dr Cullen under the Mental Health Act as they suspected he had suffered a mental breakdown or a psychotic episode, it was heard.
When interviewed by gardai under caution, and asked if he understood why he was detained for questioning, Dr Cullen told Gardai: “Yeah, acting the bollox up the road, unavoidable, because I had to find my children.”
“There was nothing bolted to the ground in that place, I proved it,” the accused told gardai.
The father of two, who was booked into the hotel alone for two nights, also told gardai: “Forty-five people were coming at me, running towards me, kids with red eyes, I had no choice”.
“I rang my wife, but it seemed to be an AI voice that came up. I couldn't ring her back, I couldn't contact her back to find my children.”
In garda custody, Dr Cullen refused to be assessed by his GP and believed an interview room at Henry Street garda station, where he was being questioned, was his “office”.
The accused told gardai: “I don't recall hitting anybody, but I’ll pay for the damages.”
When gardai told the accused that guests at the hotel had been injured, he replied: “I don’t remember it, but if I did, I do accept full responsibility for what I did.”
The accused was charged on May 8, 2024 and returned for trial on April 23rd, 2025.
Two forensic consultant psychiatrists, giving expert opinion evidence on behalf of the prosecution and the defence, said Dr Cullen was in the throes of a psychotic episode which made it impossible for him to control his emotions and behaviour on the night.
The court heard that Dr Cullen had a prior diagnosis of “bipolar affective disorder” which, it was heard, can cause hallucinations, paranoid delusions and loss of contact with reality.
The accused had previously attended inpatient psychiatric services after suffering a number of manic episodes, including when he stopped taking prescribed medication for his diagnosed illness, as he had developed a slight tremor in his hands as a side effect of taking the drug.
The court heard that nine months after his arrest at the Clayton Hotel, he had returned to work part-time and had not suffered any further manic episodes.
