A “jealous” man tried to murder his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her more than 50 times in a “ferocious, unwarranted” attack on the street, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
“Only for an off-duty paramedic, I would have been left to die,” Niamh Kelly (21) told the court on Thursday during a hearing for the sentencing of Josh O’Brien.
The court heard the attack lasted up to six minutes, and a piece of the knife 22-year-old O’Brien used was still lodged in Ms Kelly’s skull.
She spent seven months in hospital recovering from her injuries. The attack left her with lifelong injuries.
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O’Brien, of Walkinstown Avenue, Crumlin, Dublin 12, admitted the attempted murder of Ms Kelly on September 19th last year.
Det Gda John Dalton told the court O’Brien and Ms Kelly were in a relationship for more than a year and have a baby together.
The relationship “got rocky” in summer 2023, he said, with O’Brien once calling Ms Kelly names on Snapchat, saying she would be “a terrible mother”. Another time he threatened to kill her.
Det Gda Dalton said O’Brien and Ms Kelly were walking on September 19th last year when O’Brien told her he wanted to get back together.
Det Gda Dalton said O’Brien punched Ms Kelly in the face, kicked her, pushed her to the ground and stabbed her with a knife.
Ms Kelly described it as “a flicky blade” and said she was shouting at him to stop while he was stabbing her. O’Brien stabbed her in the torso and back. O’Brien stood on Ms Kelly’s head.
The attack, which happened on Firhouse Road, Firhouse, Dublin 24, continued for five to six minutes before nearby security personnel intervened and O’Brien ran away.
Det Dalton said O’Brien told gardaí he felt betrayed because Ms Kelly was turning her back on him. He told gardaí he was hearing voices saying: “Don’t take that disrespect.” He said he had four drinks on the day of the attack.
“I was just listening to the voices ... I didn’t want to kill her. If I really wanted to kill her, I would have continued,” O’Brien told gardaí.
Det Gda Dalton said O’Brien was found with a shaving razor when arrested and told gardaí he had “googled shaving her head”. Det Gda Dalton said this referred to an incident reported in the media about someone who shaved a woman’s head “so the girl wouldn’t be attractive to other people”.
The court heard O’Brien had no previous convictions.
A medical report on Ms Kelly read out by Vincent Heneghan SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said she suffered stab wounds all over her body, multiple broken bones in her skull, bleeding on the surface of her brain and a stab wound to one eye that resulted in permanent sight loss.
She had multiple broken bones in her face, a broken bone in her neck, a lung injury that required draining, a wound to her liver and a cut through part of her spinal cord that caused paralysis in her left leg.
She also experienced damage to her hands and required intensive therapy to regain normal movement.
Ms Kelly would have died without medical care, the report stated. While she could take short walks, she required the use of a wheelchair for long distances.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Kelly said her life “changed forever both physically and mentally”.
“I was defenceless ... Only for an off-duty paramedic, I would have been left to die,” she said.
“When I woke up in hospital after the incident and was told about all my injuries, I didn’t want to believe it. All the things I wanted to do with my life are gone. I cried and cried, believing my life was over.
“As a 21-year-old, I feel that my future has been destroyed.”
Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, said O’Brien wished to apologise to the victim for having “done something terrible”. Mr O’Higgins described this as a “ferocious, unwarranted, unjustified and unprovoked attack” driven by “overwhelming jealousy”.
Mr O’Higgins said O’Brien was consumed with remorse and accepted full responsibility for the attack.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring put the matter back to October 20th for finalisation.
