Genius robber heard 'voices'
Trinity graduate has family history of schizophrenia
A US federal marshal escorts Niall Clarke to jail after he was sentenced for armed robbery in Federal court in Bangor, Maine, on Tuesday
"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Niall Clarke has a serious history of mental illness, having become confused and withdrawn when he returned home from a world trip.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
