Man stole from nurse who treated him

A MAN who stole a car key from the nurse who had just treated him for a drugs overdose has been granted time to prove he has changed his ways.

Conneth Johnston (22), from Ashdene Drive in north Belfast, admitted breaking into a staff-only area at the Royal Victoria Hospital on October 8 last year and stealing the key.

When the nurse realised it was missing, she asked a colleague to accompany her to the car park, where she saw the defendant standing beside her vehicle, laughing and clicking the key.

Judge Neil Rafferty QC, sitting at Belfast Crown Court, agreed to defer sentencing for six months.

He warned Johnston that if he closed this “window of opportunity”, he would face prison.

Defence barrister Stephen Toal described the crime as “impulsive” and said his client “clearly wasn’t in the right state of mind when he did this”.

The lawyer told the court that Johnston was referred to mental health services when he was three. He also suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the latter of which makes him “act impulsively and without (thought of the) consequences.”

Mr Toal said his client, whose partner is expecting their first child in the summer, was now free from drugs and had expressed a desire to change.

Calling on Judge Rafferty to “show some leniency and faith”, he urged him against imposing an immediate custodial sentence. The judge described the crime as “slightly bizarre” and noted that Johnston had 39 previous convictions.

He accepted the defendant committed the offence when at a low ebb, having just been treated for an accidental overdose.

Judge Rafferty suspended sentencing until September and warned Johnston against committing further offences.