Mark Phillip David Galbraith, aged 35, care of the prison, has appeared in court charged with property damage.

He is currently serving a sentence at the prison and is accused of damaging a cell there on October 18.

He opted to represent himself in court, declining the use of the duty advocate, and entered a ’no plea’ response to the charge.

Mr Galbraith told the court that there had been a mouse in his cell when the alleged incident occurred and he had ’panicked’.

He claimed that the incident had already been dealt with by the prison.

The case was adjourned until April 26 when a pre-trial review will take place.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain said that inquiries would be made to establish if the prison had already dealt with the incident internally.