Belfast Crown Court heard that when staff and patients in the ward ran to safety and barricaded themselves behind a double door, Griskevicius followed them
Today, a 51-year-old man was sentenced to two years in prison for stabbing a doctor at Ulster Hospital, just hours after self-discharging against medical advice.
On August 1 2024, Algis Griskevicius entered a ward at the Dundonald hospital armed with two knives, wounding the doctor in the back.
He started by threatening the staff before coming up behind a doctor and putting his hand around the physician’s neck.
The doctor felt something sharp on his back during the intense encounter, and he also suffered a minor back wound.
Griskevicius reportedly pursued the ward’s employees and patients as they fled and locked themselves behind a double door, according to testimony given to Belfast Crown Court.
He then punched the doors and stabbed one of knives through a gap in the door before being apprehended by security staff.
Griskevicius, from East Street in Newtownards, was sentenced for three offences by Judge Mark Reel, who divided the term between a year in prison and a year on licence.
The Judge said: “It hardly needs stating that this must have been an extremely frightening event for the patients and staff at the hospital.”
The Judge revealed Griskevicius never had health issues until the weeks prior to these offences, when he started to experience severe headaches and blackouts.
Also drinking heavily at the time, he sought medical treatment at the Ulster Hospital – but discharged himself against the advice of doctors.
He returned to the hospital later that day and attacked the doctor whilst armed with two knives.
Griskevicius stated after his arrest that he didn’t remember anything that had transpired and that he couldn’t give a reason or an account for his behavior.
He expressed shame for his behaviour and pleaded guilty to assaulting the doctor and occasioning him actual bodily harm, possessing two knives with intent to commit actual bodily harm, and attempting to damage the double doors on the hospital ward.
Judge Reel said that after reading reports regarding Griskevicius’s mental health, he accepted that at the time of the incident the defendant was suffering from a mental disturbance brought on by alcohol dependency and withdrawal.
The Judge added he had taken into consideration Griskevicius’s lack of relevant offending and his mental state on the day in question.
The Lithuanian national, who has been living in Northern Ireland since 2004, intends to return to his native country when he completes his sentence.
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