By Natasha Reid and Eimear Dodd
A carpenter has been sentenced to nine years in prison for attacking a grandmother with a wheel brace to such an extent that she needed to have her spleen removed following the attack.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Keith Macken had left the woman, whom he had met just hours ago, choking on her own blood after being disturbed during the attack.
A treating doctor said that she could have died without medical care.
Macken (44) of Saint Attracta Road, Cabra, Co. Dublin was charged with assault causing serious harm to the woman – his then partner’s friend – just hours after he had met her for the first time.
The father of four pleaded guilty to the attack on Lisa Lynch on October 20, 2023 outside the perimeter fence of Dublin Airport.
He initially pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea on the first day of a trial after hearing Ms Lynch’s direct evidence.
Macken also received a separate 18 month sentence after pleading guilty to a burglary at an address in Swords on December 29, 2021.
The court heard that Macken entered his former partner’s home uninvited by climbing in a bedroom window.
Imposing sentence today, Judge Pauline Codd said that the airport incident was an unprovoked attack on a particularly vulnerable, defenceless woman.
“He took out a wheel brace and knocked her unconscious and left her on the side of the road,” she noted.
“She was left choking on her own blood.”
In relation to the burglary, she said that he had created an atmosphere of fear by the way he entered the premises, which she described as an aggravating factor.
Ms Lynch told the court she was drinking some wine in her friend’s home in the Portobello area on the night before the attack in October 2023.
Her friend’s partner, Macken, arrived and introduced himself.
He joined the women drinking and cooked them a meal before suggesting they all go for a drive.
They went for a drive, but returned to bring his partner home as she was so drunk.
He and the injured party left again in his car.
Ms Lynch said it was “all blurry” but she remembered seeing the airport and an airplane when Macken pulled over, got out and told her to “get the fuck out of the car”.
She got out and he came towards her with a wheel brace, screamed and hit her with it several times all over her head and body.
She lost consciousness and woke up to blue lights, but remained in and out of consciousness.
She could hear people talking but could barely see as her whole face was covered in blood.
When she woke up, she was in hospital, where she spent nearly three weeks.
In a medical report read to the court, the treating doctor said scans showed a fracture to one of her ribs, as well as lacerations to her liver and spleen, which was bleeding heavily.
She became unresponsive while being reviewed and was started on blood transfusions.
She was immediately transferred to theatre for emergency surgery, where her ruptured spleen was removed.
The doctor said that she had suffered serious harm, which could have been fatal if not treated.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Lynch said that she suffers a lot of flashbacks, especially when she sees the scar.
She wakes up in a state of panic and is afraid to go outside.
It has changed her relationship with men and has stopped her socialising.
“I have gone into myself,” she said in her statement.
“I’m not the same person I used to be.”
Garda Sarah Johnson told the court that Macken was disturbed from his attack by an airport worker patrolling the perimeter.
He saw Macken with what looked like a wheel brace raised above a person lying on the ground.
The airport worker activated the lights on his vehicle, which lit up the whole road.
Macken left the scene and Ms Lynch crawled across the road to the fence.
When Garda Johnson and a colleague arrived at the scene around 8am, they saw the woman in a ditch.
Gda Johnson said that the injured party said that Macken had made advances towards her that night and that she had rejected them.
After the attack, Macken drove 4 kilometres from the scene and parked at the entrance to a farmyard for about four hours, until the owners called the gardai who then found him asleep.
They seized a metal wheel brace from the floor of the car and arrested Macken.
The court heard that Macken had 142 previous convictions, including for burglary, theft and criminal damage.
Evidence was also heard that Macken climbed in an upstairs bedroom window of his former partner’s home in Swords on December 29, 2021.
The court heard Macken and the woman had been in a long-term relationship, which had ended.
Macken was not invited to the house that day and was not welcome there.
After entering the house, Macken went to the sitting room where the woman was with her mother.
He pretended everything was fine and asked what was for dinner.
The woman asked him to leave, and he replied: “Can we not order something to eat?”
The injured party told Macken to leave or she would call gardai.
He then got into her bed, saying he was going to sleep for a while.
Macken, who was highly intoxicated, then returned to the sitting room and was becoming aggressive and shouting.
When gardai arrived, he resisted arrest and four officers had to restrain him.
The court heard no damage was caused to the property. The woman declined to provide a victim impact statement.
Macken wasn’t interviewed in relation to this incident and was on bail for this offence when he assaulted Ms Lynch, the court heard.
Kathleen Leader SC, defending, said Macken had been a pro-social member of society until the pandemic, when he had no work, no means of income and no way of socialising.
His drinking became significant and it led to the break up of his relationship.
Regarding the attack on Ms Lynch, he told his barrister there was a misunderstanding between them in the car and that this led to an escalation.
“He reacted in a very inappropriate and disproportionate way,” said Ms Leader.
She explained that Macken hadn’t really come to terms with what he had done until he heard Ms Lynch give evidence.
Ms Leader also said that while in custody awaiting trial, Macken’s cell mate tried to take his own life and her client had saved him.
Probation and education reports were provided to the court.
The judge took into consideration a letter of apology written by Macken, in which he described trauma in his childhood.
She also considered a letter from a family member, who described him as a good person “when on the straight and narrow” and gave the opinion that he could overcome the addiction he has suffered through his life.
She imposed a total of 10 and a half years on Macken – nine years for the attack on Ms Lynch, and 18 months for the burglary, both to run consecutively.