A mother-of-three has been jailed for eight years for stabbing her one-time partner to death in a motiveless attack during a “chaotic” and drunken evening.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott at the Central Criminal Court said Nicola Brennan (33) had no reason to stab Juris Viktorovs to death and all the evidence suggested that they got on well and that she had positive feelings towards her victim.
“Whatever happened arose during the course of an evening after a day spent drinking large amounts of alcohol by everyone concerned,” he said. Gardaí described the scene at the house when they arrived as “one of chaos”, the judge noted and Brennan was so drunk that she was deemed unfit to be interviewed.
However, Mr Justice McDermott said that whatever the reason, Brennan had introduced a knife into a situation where she was under no threat and had not been provoked in any way. It was not a “blameless accident”, he said, but a stabbing in the chest involving a high degree of recklessness. The impact on the deceased’s family has been “devastating”, he added.
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Brennan, of no fixed abode, stabbed and killed Mr Viktorovs at the home they shared at Shillelagh, Ballyconnell, Co Wicklow on February 10th, 2022.
She pleaded not guilty to murder in December last year but following a month-long trial the jury could not agree a verdict. In June, the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted Brennan’s plea of guilty to manslaughter.
The judge said the accepted facts are that Mr Viktorovs was in bed with his girlfriend Brenda Kane when Brennan’s boyfriend came into the room looking for a cigarette.
Mr Viktorovs was rolling a cigarette at the side of the bed when Brennan appeared at the door, said something to Mr Viktorovs and threw a knife across the bedroom in the direction of the deceased. The knife landed on the floor without hitting anyone but Brennan went into the room, picked the knife up and stabbed Mr Viktorovs using a downward motion.
Mr Justice McDermott said Brennan’s accounts of what happened were “somewhat self-serving” and he noted a probation report which stated that she tends to minimise her responsibility for the killing. Alcohol and a “lack of consequential thinking” were factors in what happened, he said.
Mr Justice McDermott set a headline sentence of 12 years but after considering Brennan’s guilty plea, her genuine remorse and regret and her considerable efforts at rehabilitation, he reduced that to nine years. He further suspended the final 12 months for two years on condition that Brennan be of good behaviour, work with the probation services to address her addiction needs and participate in whatever treatment is deemed necessary. Her sentence was backdated to July 19th, 2022 when she first went into custody.
The trial heard that Brennan was going out with another man and was living in the same house as the deceased and his girlfriend Brenda Kane in Ballyconnell. During her Garda interviews, Brennan said she had previously had a “fling” with the deceased but she denied being jealous of his relationship with Ms Kane.
At a previous hearing, Det Sgt Dermot Treacy told prosecution counsel Fiona Murphy SC that Brennan had previously had an affair with Mr Viktorovs and spoke very highly of him. There was no history of animus between them, the garda said.
At the same hearing Ms Brennan’s counsel, Colman Cody SC told the court that his client has “turned her life around” while in prison. Counsel said she has a lot to be hopeful for in the future and has “done everything in her power to rehabilitate”. Mr Cody said Brennan carries the burden of what she did and “wants to reenter society as a better person”.
He said the reason for the killing remains a mystery but it took place during a “chaotic” period involving heavy drinking.
While in prison, Mr Cody said his client has achieved a number of certificates, engaged in every program available to her and is held in high regard by the prison authorities. Mr Cody outlined a “broadly positive” probation report which put Brennan at a moderate risk of reoffending partly due to uncertainty about where she will live when she is released from custody.
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