When in court for a road rage incident, a former cast member of Home and Away made jokes about the television programme.
Joel McIlroy, who starred in Home and Away from 2003 to 2006 as Flynn Saunders, Kate Ritchie’s character Sally’s husband, appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday. There, a charge of property destruction was withdrawn due to McIlroy’s mental health.
The former actor, who currently has a fatal brain illness, broke the truck glass on July 6 in Sydney’s Surry Hills by mistake using a cricket bat. Magistrate Christine Hackett determined that the actor’s illness, Huntington’s disease, was the reason behind his “sudden” behaviour.
The court was informed by Mr. McIlroy’s attorney that his client had acted in the popular Australian soap opera.
Upon hearing that Magistrate Hackett “didn’t really watch Home and Away,” Mr. McIlroy retorted, “I don’t blame you.”
The former TV personality told the court that she had been fighting Huntington’s illness since 2007. Huntington’s disease is an inherited condition that causes the brain’s inner layers to gradually degenerate and die.
The abrupt outburst was caused by Mr. McIlroy’s diagnosis after he grew furious about a road rage incident involving two cars.
His attorney reportedly stated in court that “(when) he perceives an injustice, it triggers him,” according to the Daily Telegraph.
Shortly before the tragedy, Mr. McIlroy purchased the cricket bat as an early birthday present for his deceased friend’s son.
One of the cars’ windows “shattered” when someone tapped on it, making Mr. McIlroy instantly regretful and offer to cover the costs.
The court was informed by Mr. McIlroy’s attorney that “lapses are an unfortunate reality of this disease.”
“It’s unyielding and degenerative.”
The truck driver currently has an outstanding warrant for a different incident, therefore the court had also heard that Mr. McIlroy had not been coerced into paying back any money.
Like Chris Hemsworth, Heath Ledger, and Isla Fisher, the former actor disclosed that he planned to pursue his career beyond Home and Away.
Just one year before his diagnosis, he was at the pinnacle of his fame and had received a 2006 Silver Logie nomination.
Mr. McIlroy told the court, “I always wanted to be in the theatre doing the classics but I wasn’t really good enough.”
“This diagnosis was a cloud over my head.”
His attorney informed the judge that they had never seen a “better police fact sheet” than the one his client possessed.
When Mr. McIlroy attacked a female plain-clothes police officer on October 22, 2019, the mental health act similarly rejected earlier assault charges against him.
His medicine had quadrupled in dosage just prior to the attack, which made his impulse control even worse.
The court was informed that Mr. McIlroy had experienced “significant cognitive impairment” by 2013 and that, by late 2019, “all of his medical professionals note a large and significant decline of cognitive flexibility” in response to the assault charges.
The physicians’ assessment of Mr. McIlroy’s death is “emergence or diagnosis to death through a progressive decline of physical condition and mental functioning,” according to Magistrate Jennifer Giles.
“With five or so years in care, they estimate the defendant will live for about ten years.”
