Belfast man who spat on doctor at Royal Victoria Hospital jailed

A Belfast man who spat on a doctor who was tending to him in the Royal Victoria Hospital was handed a six-month prison sentence today (Thursday).

As he imposed the jail term upon Anthony McMullan, Judge Peter Irvine told the 32-year old “this was a disgusting act”. From University Street, McMullan appeared at Belfast Crown Court where he was sentenced for a total of seven offences committed on May 25th/26th of this year.

Crown barrister Gareth Purvis said that around 8pm on May 25, a man who lived in the same apartment block as McMullan heard noises from an upstairs flat. This neighbour was aware that the noises were not being made by the female occupant of the flat above his.

Upon investigation, it emerged that McMullan was present in the flat and when challenged, he became aggressive. Mr Purvis said that McMullan then threw an item at the rear window of the male neighbour’s flat which caused it to shatter.

When the female occupant returned to her flat, there were signs of a disturbance, items of food were missing and a glass had been smashed on her floor.

Mr Purvis told Judge Irvine that whilst it was accepted all three neighbours knew each other and frequented each other’s apartments, on this occasion the female occupant was not present and McMullan entered her home “without permission”.

The police were tasked and they called at McMullan’s apartment around midnight where they discovered his front door was unlocked. The prosecutor said that after officers gained entry, they found an “unresponsive” McMullan lying in his bed.

Whilst in his property, officers also found pasta, noodles and sauce which McMullan had taken from his female neighbour’s flat. McMullan was roused from his sleep and due to his intoxicated condition, an ambulance was called.

Whilst en route to the RVH, McMullan became verbally abusive to the police officers and kicked out at a female constable. After arriving at the hospital, McMullan’s aggressive behavior continued and he became resistant to officers as they tried to restrain him. He then spat on a doctor who was treating him, with the spittle landing on the medic’s right wrist.

Mr Purvis said: “The doctor was concerned about the level of noise and disturbance and was concerned about the well-being of other patients having to hear and witness this.”

McMullan - who has 103 previous convictions - subsequently pleaded guilty to assaulting the doctor, assaulting a police officer and to two counts of resisting arrest. He also admitted one count of burglary and two counts of criminal damage.

Defence barrister Declan Quinn said that due to McMullan’s intoxication, he has “very little recollection” of what happened in May.

The barrister said that despite this, when interviewed by police and asked about spitting on the doctor, McMullan said ‘if I did that I was totally wrong’.

Mr Quinn said “thankfully” the spitting incident did not result in the doctor being absent from his duties but said the medic “had to deal with the defendant in a way that he shouldn’t have had to”.

He added that McMullan entered guilty pleas at an early stage and has expressed remorse for what he did.

After listening to submissions from both the Crown and defence, Judge Irvine told McMullan that spitting on a doctor who was tending to him was a “disgusting act”.

Branding McMullan’s criminal record as “formidable”, Judge Irvine imposed the six-month sentence.

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