A man who stabbed a woman multiple times in the vagina in a “misogynistic” and “depraved attack” has been jailed for nine years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to assault causing serious harm at an apartment in Dublin city on March 6th, 2024.
He was on bail and aged 21 at the time of the attack. He has 15 previous convictions.
Sentencing the now 22-year-old on Monday, Judge Pauline Codd said it was “difficult to envisage a more depraved attack”. She sentenced him to 10 years, with one year suspended.
RM Block
As a result of the attack, the woman will have difficulty having a natural childbirth and pain during sexual intercourse, Ms Codd noted from the medical reports.
The injured party did not want to make a victim impact statement, the court was told.
Gda Colm Carroll said he and a colleague heard a commotion coming from an apartment at about 8pm on March 6th.
They saw males fleeing via an external staircase. The gardaí stopped four males, one of whom was the accused.
The court heard a woman was lying on a second-floor balcony with heavy bleeding from her pelvic area. A bloody knife was found at the scene.
The woman told gardaí four people ran towards her and she ended up on the ground and being stabbed four times in the groin area.
Two of the co-accused saw the gardaí approaching the scene and disposed of two other knives by placing them in the letter box of an apartment. A fourth knife was recovered in an abandoned apartment on the block. All four knives were analysed.
The court heard the accused’s phone was seized and a voice note from Snapchat was recovered in which he could be heard saying: “I am on my way back up with a blade. He’s getting butchered. They’re all getting it. She [the injured party] is getting butchered on them stairs as well. Little rats.”
The males arrived with their faces covered and wearing gloves.
A medical report by Hugh O’Connor, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, noted the woman had sustained a 10cm by 2cm wound. There were three more wounds ranging in length from 2cm to 4cm, and one which was almost to the bone.
Dr O’Connor noted a hematoma that was swollen to the size of a lemon and that the woman had lost about a quarter of her overall blood count.
Oisín Clarke, prosecuting, told the court the Director of Public Prosecutions has placed this offence within the sentencing brackets of 10 to 15 years.
Gda Carroll agreed with Keith Spencer, defending, that the accused entered a timely guilty plea. The garda agreed with counsel that the accused was brought up in difficult circumstances.
Mr Spencer said his client was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD and has low-level intellectual capability.
Counsel said his client was not acting in his right mind and wanted to unreservedly apologise to the woman. He said the accused has been in custody since his second arrest and is undertaking a barbering course.
