A CONSULTANT psychiatrist has appeared in court charged with causing significant injuries to another man in a four car motorway pile up on Thursday.
Dr Enyinnaya Ezema (53), who resides in Sligo, but who also has an address at Highfield Court in Omagh, appeared in the dock of Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday.
He was charged with causing grievous bodily injury to a 21-year-old man, by careless driving and by dangerous driving on the M1 at the Black’s Road junction.
A rapid response paramedic, five ambulance crews and an ambulance officer were tasked to the scene on Thursday evening.
Five people, including the defendant, were taken to hospital following the four-vehicle collision.
The motorway was closed in both directions for a time, resulting in traffic gridlock in the city.
Giving evidence to the court, Detective Constable McDonald said he believed he could connect Ezema to each of the charges.
He said police were objecting to bail due to fears Dr Ezema posed a risk of flight.
The officer told the court how the defendant’s Audi Q5 had collided with the rear of the victim’s Peugeot 207, with paramedics informing police that the driver of the 207 “was in a critical condition”.
The officer said the 21-year-old remained in intensive care under sedation and on a ventilator, after he sustained a fractured skull.
All of the casualties, including Dr Ezema were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, but it transpired the defendant discharged himself and had made his way to Belfast International Airport to hire a car.
Police later made contact by phone, instructing the defendant to attend Antrim police station, where he was arrested.
During police interviews, Dr Ezema said he had tended to the driver of the Peugeot 207 following the collision.
DC McDonald conceded that while Dr Ezema has no convictions, and is not the subject of any other investigation, police were concerned he posed a risk of flight as his family reside in Sligo.
He said in the aftermath of the incident, the defendant had discharged himself from hospital and went to the airport where he hired a car to go to Sligo.
The officer said the defendant had stated “several times” while in custody that he intended to go back to Sligo.
Defence counsel Sean O’Hare said the decision to detain his client in custody was “an egregious wrong”.
The barrister said Dr Ezema has been working in Ireland since 2002, and was previously a consultant psychiatrist at Antrim Area hospital from 2017 until last December, when he was transferred to Omagh hospital.
Mr O’Hare said while his client resides in Omagh during week, he returns to Sligo at the weekends to “spend time with his family”.
He said Dr Ezema had gone to the airport to hire a car for his 18-year-old son, who had been a passenger in the car during the collision.
DC McDonald said that, as far as the police were aware, the address in Omagh had been withdrawn by the landlady.
Mr O’Hare said his client could be released to reside at a local hotel in the short-term, until an alternative address could be found.
District Judge Rosalie Prytherch granted bail in the sum of £950 on the condition the defendant reside at an approved address, surrenders his Irish passport, and reports to police once a week.
The case was adjourned until February 7.