Man who beat his sister twice is jailed for 2 ½ years

By Isabel Hayes

A man who assaulted his sister on two occasions, stabbing her and beating her with her own crutch as she recovered from hip surgery, has been jailed for two and half years.

Barry O’Donnell (37) of Cromlech Fields, Ballybrack, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault causing harm to his sister in separate incidents at their home address on March 22 and August 30 last year.

The woman required stitches and was left with scarring after O’Donnell set upon her with a knife in her bedroom after an argument about loud music and stabbed her in the back, arm and knee.

She said she can never forgive him for then running away and leaving her for dead.

Garda Natasha Quigley told Tessa White BL, prosecuting, that prior to the second assault, the siblings lived together for over 30 years and resided in their childhood family home.

They had been yery close to each other, having only each other since the death of their parents, the court heard.

The first incident occurred after they had been having a few drinks together at home and O’Donnell became aggressive and loud.

When his sister asked him to quieten down, he called her a “fat stupid ugly cunt” and then struck her to the back of the head.

She barricaded herself into the room and phoned 999, but he gained entry, smashed her phone on the floor and started beating her with the crutch she had been using as she recovered from hip surgery.

He then left the house.

She was terrified he was going to kill her and told gardaí that he is unpredictable when he has been drinking alcohol.

She declined to go to A&E but allowed gardaí to photograph her injuries.

O’Donnell was arrested, questioned and initially released without charge.

The second assault occurred seven months later after O’Donnell had again been drinking and was playing loud music in his room late at night.

His sister turned off the home wifi in an attempt to stop the music before O’Donnell barged into her room armed with a knife.

He kicked her in the ribs as she lay in the foetal position, shouting: “I’ll kill you,” before he stabbed her three to four times in the back, arm and knee.

He then fled the house and she crawled into bed and slept for some hours.

When she came to, she rang emergency services and was taken to hospital.

She suffered lacerations and required stitches. O’Donnell was found walking around Dun Laoghaire and was arrested.

He was co-operative with gardaí but said he had little memory of the incident.

He has been in custody ever since.

Sentencing him today, Judge Orla Crowe sentenced O’Donnell to three years and three months.

She suspended the final nine months of the sentence on strict conditions including that O’Donnell engage with the Probation Service for a year upon his release from prison.

She also ordered that he engage in victim focused work and treatment for his alcohol addiction.

Judge Crowe acknowledged that O’Donnell had been “doing good work in custody” and she partly suspended the sentence to “incentivise his rehabilitation”.

In a victim impact statement read out by counsel, the woman said she still loved her brother, but didn’t want anything more to do with him.

She said the first assault with the crutch impacted her ability to walk and recover from the operation.

She said the stabbing left her with permanent physical scarring.

She said she has received counselling and struggles with flashbacks.

She said her brother never expressed remorse for his actions.

“I still love him, he’s my brother, but I can’t forgive the fact he ran away and left me for dead,” she said, adding: “I’m on my own now.”

Luigi Rea BL, defending, said O’Donnell struggled with alcohol addiction issues and unresolved grief from the deaths of his parents.

He said that O’Donnell is polite and cooperative when sober.

He said O’Donnell has surrendered his tenancy rights to the family home since going into custody.

He has one previous conviction for drugs possession in 2011.