Inmate slashed prison officer on hospital visit

By Jessica Magee

A man serving a life sentence for murder slashed a prison officer’s face with a sharpened toilet brush after he had been taken out of jail to get an X-ray, a court has heard.

 Graham McEvoy (26) of Captains’ Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12, pleaded guilty to assaulting a prison officer, causing him harm outside the Swiftcare clinic in Smithfield on May 8, 2023.

McEvoy had just attended for an X-ray at the clinic and had been released from his handcuffs to sit back into the waiting prison van when he lunged at prison officers in a bid for freedom, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on ThursdayWitnesses say McEvoy shouted: “Just let me go, I’ll stab the face-off you, I’ll stab you to death,” before he lashed out at an officer.

McEvoy admitted producing a white plastic improvised weapon – a sharpened toilet brush; while two further charges of threats to kill and attempting to escape lawful custody were taken into consideration.

Judge Pauline Codd sentenced him to four years in prison, noting that the law did not allow her to impose a sentence consecutive to the one McEvoy is already serving for murder.

McEvoy was convicted after a week-long trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2017 of murdering Paul Curran (23) at Seagull House, Crumlin Road, on July 16, 2016, by stabbing him to death.

He was handed a life sentence and is currently an inmate at Midlands Prison.

“This sentence cannot act as a true deterrent, in light of the fact that I can’t impose a consecutive sentence,” said Judge Codd, backdating it to last month when McEvoy pleaded guilty.

Judge Codd said the prison officer was left with a scar after he was cut under his eye in what she said was a “highly dangerous manoeuvre” by McEvoy.

She set a headline sentence of five years but reduced it to four years on account of McEvoy’s guilty plea, his expressions of remorse and the consequences he has suffered within the prison system.

McEvoy spent a considerable period on 24-hour lock-up after assaulting the officer, the court heard.

McEvoy has 32 previous convictions, including the murder charge, and others for drugs and road traffic offences, robberies and possession of a phone in prison.

Garda Deirdre Gill told Rebecca Smith BL, prosecuting, that three prison officers escorted McEvoy to the Swiftcare clinic in Smithfield on the day in question.

He attended the clinic for an x-ray without incident and went back to the van wearing handcuffs.

The court heard that a prison officer removed one cuff to allow McEvoy to climb into the van.

McEvoy sat down but then stood up again and made a drive towards the prison officers, barging through them to try and escape.

Outside the van, a prison officer tried to restrain Mr McEvoy against the car parked next to them, pushing him up against it to use the car as leverage.

McEvoy then swung both arms violently, lashing out with the arm that was still cuffed and threatening to stab the prison officer to death.

The prison officer felt a sharp pain under his right eye, the court heard.

Another officer grabbed for the weapon and got control of the accused’s right hand.

The officers noticed a 15cm-long white object which fell to the ground and was moved away.

“It was a toilet brush that had been manipulated into a point. I believe it had come from McEvoy’s cell, and he had concealed it on his person,” Gda Gill said.

The prison officer was treated in hospital and given sutures and a tetanus injection.

He also visited his GP, who described him as “shaken and worried”.

A victim impact statement was handed to the judge but not read out in court.

Keith Spencer BL, defending, said McEvoy wished to make a heartfelt apology to the prison officer he stabbed and to the others who had escorted him to the clinic.

Mr Spencer said his client has suffered a deterioration of his mental health in prison and had been given different diagnoses of multiple personality disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia by different psychiatrists.

“On the day, he should have been taking medication, and he wasn’t,” counsel said, adding that McEvoy was in a paranoid state and was worried for his own safety.

Mr Spencer said McEvoy had been the subject of repeated attacks from other prisoners and would carry improvised shivs and such items around with him.

McEvoy found custody very difficult and was frustrated by the varying diagnoses he had received, counsel said.

McEvoy accepts that the prison officers were just carrying out their job and that his actions were totally unjustifiable, the court heard.

He is now engaging with psychiatric services in prison and wants to tackle his drug addiction before he appears before a parole board.

Judge Codd placed the offence “in the uppermost range” of seriousness and said prison officers have to be protected during the course of their duties.