Dublin People
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Place a Classifieds Ad
  • Place a Memorial Ad
  • Place a Planning Ad
Toggle Menu
  • News
    • Southside
    • Northside East
    • Northside West
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Health
    • Motoring
    • Travel
    • Arts & Culture
    • House & Home
  • Community
    • Crime & Courts
  • Business
    • Education
    • Jobs
  • Digital edition
    • Northside People East edition
    • Northside West edition
    • Southside People edition
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Place a Classifieds Ad
  • Place a Memorial Ad
  • Place a Planning Ad

Woman jailed for savage attack on new mother

Padraig Conlon 25 May 2023

By Claire Henry

A woman who carried out a “savage” attack on a new mother who had just returned home from visiting her premature baby in hospital has been jailed for nine months.

Miranda McCabe (37) of Tubberclare Meadows, Navan, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Stephanie Dunne at Priorswood Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin, on November 27, 2021.

She has five previous convictions.

Garda Mark Reilly told Diarmuid Collins, BL, prosecuting, that Ms Dunne had just travelled home after visiting her premature baby in the hospital.

When she got out of her car, she noticed a car with a man and a woman sitting inside.

Gda Reilly said Ms Dunne was standing in her porch when McCabe jumped from the car and head-butted her.

McCabe punched her several more times and put her in a headlock.

The court heard that the man who had been in the car was now standing in Ms Dunne’s garden dressed in black, wearing gloves, and had his face covered with a scarf.

He was also holding what Ms Dunne described as “butcher knives”.

Ms Dunne’s son opened the front door and as McCabe swung to hit Ms Dunne, she missed and instead hit the son.

McCabe continued to hit Ms Dunne several more times before the man dragged her away.

As they were leaving, McCabe said, “This is only the start”.

They both got into the car and drove away.

Gda Reilly said that when McCabe was arrested, she made no admissions during her interview.

A clump of hair which Ms Dunne had pulled from McCabe was tested, and the DNA from the clump of hair matched McCabe.

Ms Dunne read her own victim impact statement to the court and said that “I will always be on my guard…My daughter was in ICU, I didn’t know these people,” she said.

Advertisement

Gda Reilly agreed with Patrick McCarthy, BL, defending, that the early guilty plea by his client was helpful to gardaí.

McCabe’s co-accused remains before the courts.

Mr McCarthy said his client had suffered from mental health difficulties and was going through a difficult time at the time of the offence.

Counsel said his client is extremely embarrassed by her behaviour and wished to convey her apologies to Ms Dunne and the court.

He said this was an isolated incident.

He asked the court to take into account that McCabe is a single mother to three children, one of whom has significant medical needs.

At an earlier sentence hearing Judge Martin Nolan said McCabe was very aggressive and attacked the woman “savagely”.

“The motive for this savage attack is not clear,” the judge said, adding there appeared to be a “tenuous connection” between the injured partner and McCabe.

“It was a very bad attack on a lady in a very vulnerable position,” Judge Nolan said. The victim had been “grievously attacked and humiliated”, he added.

The judge noted McCabe has three children, one of whom has additional needs. He expressed concern for the future of this child if he was to imprison McCabe, “which is my instinct to do”.

Yesterday, Judge Nolan said that it has since become clear that McCabe is not the “principal carer” of her child who has special needs.

“I was led to believe this was the case.

“Nobody wants a child with particular needs to be left alone or vulnerable,” the judge continued.

He said given the fact this was a planned assault and a frightening situation for the victim, “I have come to the conclusion that she deserves a custodial sentence”.

Judge Nolan then imposed a sentence of two years and suspended the final 15 months of the term on strict conditions.

 

  • Crime & Courts

Post navigation

>
<

Related News

Reliance on garda overtime has left city centre exposed, says Gannon

Mike Finnerty • 28 Sep 23

Down Syndrome Ireland celebrates Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Padraig Conlon • 28 Sep 23

Tributes paid to Cabra-born actor Michael Gambon

Mike Finnerty • 28 Sep 23
  • FOLLOW
    DUBLIN PEOPLE
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Trending Now

  • Dumb Money invests a lot into heart, wins big
  • Ballymun: Super Soccer Saturday and World Record attempt
  • The Lesson is a passable Yuppie Nightmare
  • Art installation for Howth Junction and Donaghmede DART Station wins Business to Arts Award


Dublin People Group
Dublin People Northside East
Dublin People Northside West
Dublin People Southside

The Dublin People Group is the largest local newspaper in Dublin, with three popular weekly titles serving the city: Northside People East, Northside People West & Southside People. Each of our titles are compact and available every Monday. Our publications are distributed throughout Dublin’s suburbs to homes, pick-up points and businesses.

DPG Publications Ltd
Unit 3 Robinhood Industrial Estate Dublin 22 Ireland.
Publisher of the following newspaper titles. The Northside People East, The Northside People West & The Southside People Newspapers

  • FOLLOW
    DUBLIN PEOPLE
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Phone: 01-8621611
Advertising: sales@dublinpeople.com
News: news@dublinpeople.com
Planning: planning@dublinpeople.com

  • Contact Us
  • Cookie policy (EU)
  • Privacy statement (EU)
  • Disclaimer
  • Return,Refund and Cancellation policy
  • Advertising and Pricing Policy
Copyright © 2021 Dublin People
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Go to mobile version