A violent prisoner suspected of attacking a prison guard has been moved to the same unit as serial killer Yousef Palani in Portlaoise Prison. Benjamin Morrissey, who has nearly 80 convictions, is currently serving a sentence for a gruesome scissors attack on a woman in Dublin. He is also the prime suspect in an attack on a prison officer in Mountjoy Prison last Sunday.
A violent prisoner suspected of carrying out a horrific attack on a prison officer has been moved to the same unit as serial killer Yousf Palani. The Irish Mirror can reveal that prison bosses have transferred highly volatile prisoner Benjamin Morrissey , who has nearly 80 convictions, to the A5 unit of Portlaoise Prison . Morrissey is currently serving a sentence for a gruesome scissors attack on a woman in Dublin’s O’Connell Street in 2021.
He is also the sole suspect in an attack that saw a prison officer sliced in the face in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison last Sunday. Prison bosses moved him following the incident, which is now the subject of a major investigation. The prison officer sustained horrific facial injuries and required plastic surgery as a result of the alleged attack, leaving him unable to work. Gardai and prison authorities continue to investigate the attack, and Morrissey has since been transferred from Mountjoy Prison to the A5 unit of Portlaoise Prison. This unit is reserved for the country’s most volatile prisoners and is also home to ruthless serial killer Yousef Palani, who brutally murdered two men in Sligo and seriously assaulted a third.Sources say Morrissey is being barrier handled in the A5 unit and kept away from the rest of the prison population following the alleged incident. Like Palani, who is housed there due to repeatedly trashing his own cell and threatening prison staff, Morrissey is considered a highly dangerous prisoner with an open record of attacks and threats to kill. In 2022, he was jailed for a total of six years for two separate gruesome attacks. In these attacks, he targeted a woman with scissors in an attempt to steal an E-scooter and stabbed a man in the neck. Morrissey, formerly of Backpackers Citi Hostel, Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin and Queens Housing Quarter, Belfast, Co Antrim, pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Daniel Shortt on St Augustine Street, Dublin 8 on August 9, 2020. He also pleaded guilty to attempted robbery of BB Sondegur on February 5, 2021. The court heard his previous convictions include assaults, drug dealing, criminal damage, theft, and public order offences. Yousef Palani is also held in the specialist unit for the safety of prison staff whom he has threatened in the past. The serial killer tracked down men on a gay dating app before stabbing them to death in their homes and mutilating their bodies. The attacks triggered a huge garda manhunt, with armed officers visiting the homes of gay men around the town as they tried to track down Palani. With the assistance of witnesses, including Anthony Burke, a local man who had survived Palani’s first attack, gardaí traced Palani to his home and arrested him. Palani ultimately pleaded guilty to the murder of Aidan Moffitt at Cartron Heights in Sligo on April 10, 2022, and the murder of Michael Snee at City View, Connaughton Road, Sligo, on April 12, 2022. In the case of Mr Moffitt, he cut his victim’s head off and placed it on the bed facing the door. He went on to claim he heard voices which told him to carry out the attacks
Prisoner Serial Killer Prison Attack Portlaoise Prison Mountjoy Prison Yousef Palani Benjamin Morrissey
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