Woman jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice

By Peter Murtagh

A woman who admitted wiping blood from a door handle after an alleged assault carried out by others has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

Mary Sutcliffe (41) with an address at Marlborough Place, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to perverting the course of justice on August 11, 2018.

She has no prior convictions.

The court heard that at around 8.10 pm five people had gone to an apartment in Ranelagh, Dublin. Inside, were two men. One was awoken, hit and punched in the face, by someone shouting: “Leave my fucking sister alone”.

The court was told that viewing CCTV the next day, gardai identified Sutcliffe and two females, walking along a corridor to the apartment, talking among themselves.

One of the women held the front door to the apartment block open and two males were seen entering.

One of the males then kicked open the door to apartment No 4 and both were shown on CCTV entering the apartment, one holding an object.

As they left, the CCTV showed Sutcliffe wiping the door handle, apparently removing blood from it.

The court heard that two males were arrested shortly after the incident.

A trial of two people allegedly connected to the incident, but who were not before the court, is due to start in 2024.

Judge Elma Sheahan today said the underlying offending had been of the up most gravity involving the possession of a weapon and its use on a person in their own home and that Sutcliffe had sought to impede prosecution of that offending.

She noted the fact Sutcliffe was under the influence of narcotics at the time, having suffered from drug difficulties all her life and that she was brought up in difficult circumstances.

The judge took into account her high risk of reoffending but noted the steps she has taken to improve her situation.

Judge Sheahan imposed a sentence of two and a half years, suspending the final 12 months.

During the sentencing hearing earlier this year the court was told that Sutcliffe accepted she was the woman in the CCTV footage seen wiping the door handle. She said she did not know who the two males who entered the apartment were, they had hoods up and wore dark glasses, said her defence barrister.

He told Judge Sheahan that Sutcliffe had acted under duress. It was not suggested she frustrated any garda investigation — but that was her intention, interjected Judge Sheahan — and had co-operated with the gardaí.

The court was told that Sutcliffe had suffered from significant domestic abuse which led to drug abuse from the age of 17.

She was a mother to three children.

She took cannabis and methadone, said her barrister, but was “trying to rid her life of that”. She was also on anti-depressants.

She relapsed into drug abuse when her life experienced turmoil.

Keith Spencer BL, defending, today submitted prior to sentencing that Sutcliffe had suffered a bereavement and was undergoing a period of emotional upheaval in her life around the time of this offence.

He asked for clemency noting that the act of wiping had not in fact impeded the investigation and it was a momentary offence, unplanned and done on the spur of the moment.