Posted on 03/07/2008 3:37:38 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
Trinity graduate has family history of schizophrenia
"Voices" in the head of an award-winning Irish computer science graduate told him to rob a bank, it was claimed yesterday.
Niall Clarke (27) was suffering from schizophrenia when he carried out a botched bank raid in Maine, a mental illness also suffered by his grandmother, said his solicitor yesterday.
The brilliant Trinity graduate from Kilrush in Co Clare was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison earlier this week after the 2006 robbery of the Bangor Bank of America.
"He was hearing voices that the bank had to be robbed. He said it was no longer himself that was in his body -- he had voices telling him that the bank had to be robbed," said solicitor Eugene O'Kelly.
"It certainly showed no criminal expertise. A child would have planned the robbery in a better way. It was a nonsensical attempt to rob the bank. He had no hope of successfully evading justice.
"He was in a very confined mall. It was ringed by state troopers. There was no prospect that he could get away with this but he still felt compelled."
Clarke was given the most lenient sentence possible by the presiding judge, who recommended that he be allowed serve some of the sentence in Ireland.
Sentence
He is expected to be held at the Cumberland County Jail for the next few weeks until the US Bureau of Prisons determines in which federal prison he will begin serving his sentence.
Clarke's father and sister, Michael and Michelle Clarke, are in the USA this week. Mr Clarke had previously tried to get his son committed to a psychiatric hospital. His sentence is expected to be appealed.
Speaking on RTE radio yesterday, Mr O'Kelly said there had been a history of mental illness in the family as Clarke's grandmother had been paranoid schizophrenic -- as the young man's father had told the court.
"Michael saw that this was history repeating itself," said Mr O'Kelly. "He could see because of his own personal and sad experience of the illness that it looked like his son was behaving in a similar way."
Niall Clarke has a serious history of mental illness, having become confused and withdrawn when he returned home from a world trip.
"His father had to take the very sad step of signing the committal papers to have him committed against his will to a psychiatric hospital. Unfortunately it did not progress beyond that," he said.
"He remains a very clever and bright person and his schizophrenia is episodic."
Clarke was €20,500 in debt and behind in his rent when he bought a gun and ammunition before raiding the bank while wearing a ski mask.
He was arrested when a bank worker noted down his car registration number.
"This crime was committed because Niall was going through a particularly bad period of schizophrenia at the time," said Mr O'Kelly.
"Obviously if Niall was not in the US, which has a very lax policy in terms of walking in and buying a deadly weapon, it may not have attracted a seven-year sentence which a gun crime attracts.
"It is horrifying the ease with which Niall was able to walk in and buy quite a deadly weapon by just producing a driving licence."
The judge recommended that if Clarke asks to spend the end of his sentence in Ireland, the request be granted.
- Shane Hickey
In 2006, an Irish immigrant, Niall Clarke (27), living in Massachusetts, came to Maine to get a driver's license, then went and bought a gun with his newly acquired identification-the driver's licence. He then used that gun to rob a bank in Bangor, 6 months later.
Niall Clarke, was able to bypass the residency requirement and/or visa check needed to get a driver's license in Maine, even though he couldn't get one in Massachusetts.
While the robbery occurred in 2006, the incident is back in the news because Clarke is being sentenced this week.
According to court documents released last month, Bureau of Motor Vehicles official, Robert O'Connell, met Clarke in a Boston bar on St. Patrick's Day in 2006 and the Irish immigrant asked the BMV official for advice on getting a license. The men exchanged e-mail addresses and over the next month O'Connell told Clarke how to get a license in Maine.
Robert O'Connell, director of licensing services for the BMV, has not been charged in the incident and remains on the job. Dunlap, who is O'Connell's boss, has ordered an outside investigation to make sure internal policies were followed..."Bob is an expert in this (licensing) field and has a spotless record," Dunlap said Friday. "He's highly regarded. He has a lot of integrity, and I don't question him at all on this.... "I know people can say whatever they want to say. I've had demands this morning that he be fired for this," Dunlap added. "I think we should slow down. It's very tempting to throw a state employee under the bus, but the man's due a process and I'm going to make sure he gets it."
Dunlap said O'Connell told him of his association with Clarke when the story of the robbery broke.
Just two weeks ago, feds arrested a New Jersey man for allegedly bringing two illegals from Brazil to get driver’s licenses at the Augusta Bureau of Motor Vehicles. -Keep Maine Current, March 5, 2008
Maine is one of the easiest states in the country in which to get a driver’s license because it doesn’t check legal status or even require people to show they have a legitimate address in Maine. The policy of the State Bureau of Motor Vehicles has been that it is not their job to check people for citizenship status. That is the job of the federal government.
Look at the remarks of the whore Irish lawyer: it’s America’s fault because this robber was able to get a gun.
The “robber is nuts” defense stinks. He knew enough to get a driver’s license. He knew enough to get a gun. He was heavily in debt.
I don’t know why the corrupt Maine DMV official was not fired forthwith. And why will the judge permit this thug to serve part of his sentence in Ireland, an essentially lawless place where NO ONE serves 10 years in prison? If he goes there, he’ll be out in a year. Guaranteed.
No surprise Maine is a blue state.
Perhaps a little voice in the judge’s head will say, “The Guillotine...” Of course, if it’s a Clinton judge, the state will be fined for bring this ass to trial.
Better defense than “voices”. He should state that he had changed his name from Kennedy. That way, he’d get off. Oh, and if he happened to kill a woman at the time, all he would have had to do was to run and claim the voices told him to run. Then he could run for the senate. The Massachusetts fools would promptly elect him.
Seven hijackers used fraudulent means ( false statements of residency) to acquire legitimate identifications in Virginia.
The BMV goes by a number system and you sit while you wait for your number to be called to go forward to be assisted. I was seated in the front row which normally doesn't really allow you to hear a lot unless the customer is hard of hearing or just plain loud. A few numbers ahead of me a lovely lady in her 80's stepped up to be helped and was apparently hard of hearing. Even trying to mind your own business you could overhear her requesting a disability tag for her husband. The clerk shuffled papers and rather loudly told the lady that she needed a statement from her husband's doctor declaring his condition permanent. The lovely lady at this point became much louder and her voice began to actually crack when she said" What do you mean permanent? I just gave you the Doctors statement that he had his leg amputated. It's not like it will grow back!"
The poor lady left without a disability tag until she could come back with another statement from her husband's doctor.
Illegals yes, Mainers no.
This points away from the schitzo defense - he robbed because he needed money
Nice lady, think she was a Republican ;)
The good news is that the lady that was rather rude retired since then.
My sons replacement license took 4 weeks to get here. sad.
“The clerk shuffled papers and rather loudly told the lady that she needed a statement from her husband’s doctor declaring his condition permanent.”
We need an agency of 007s, licensed to kill, who wander the government offices of the nation looking for things like that.
LOL. I think everyone in there that day would agree. We were all flabbergasted.
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