Woman stabbed her friend twice on the chest
Carlow courthouse Photo: Michael O'Rourke
A WOMAN who admitted to stabbing her friend twice in the breast appeared before Carlow Circuit Court last week for finalisation of the case. Sandra Doyle, Church Street, Graiguecullen had pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman, causing her harm and to producing a knife during a dispute at New Oak Estate, Carlow on 10 September 2021.
Ms Doyle (51) was before Judge Eugene O’Kelly in November last year, when he heard that an altercation arose after Ms Doyle accused the injured party of stealing her phone and had gone to New Oak Estate to get it back.
The injured party told gardaí that Ms Doyle pushed her and that she turned away from her, but when she turned back Ms Doyle had a knife and stabbed her twice with it.
A witness told gardaí that Ms Doyle threatened to kill the injured party if she didn’t give her back her phone and that after Ms Doyle stabbed the injured party, she saw her breast tissue “hanging out”.
The court heard that the woman sustained a 7cm laceration to her left breast and a 10cm wound under her right breast.
Ms Doyle admitted to gardaí that she hit the injured party “once or twice with the knife”, using a swinging motion rather than a stabbing motion.
Ms Doyle had initially pleaded not guilty to the offences and had alleged that the injured party had brought the knife to the dispute, but later changed her plea.
Tara Geoghegan BL told Judge O’Kelly in November that her client was drinking a bottle of vodka a day at the time of the offence and had little recollection of what happened. Ms Geoghegan told Judge O’Kelly that “criminality was entrenched” in Ms Doyle’s family and that she was now working hard to address her issues with alcohol. She asked Judge O’Kelly to adjourn finalising the matter so that her client could continue getting help by engaging with the appropriate services and he agreed, on condition that Ms Doyle would continue to address her addiction issues, adjourning the matter until this month.
Last week, Ms Doyle was back before the court when Ms Geoghegan handed updated medical and probation reports to the judge.
Ms Geoghegan said that Ms Doyle had lost her mother in the interim but had coped well and that she was engaging well with the services. She said that her client was attending AA and other appropriate meetings and that she had a key worker with the de Paul services.
She continued that Ms Doyle was “very remorseful” and apologised to the injured party and that she could now understand the gravity of her offence.
After reading the reports and listening to Ms Geoghegan, Judge O’Kelly said he acknowledged that Ms Doyle had suffered “terrible bereavements and tragedies” in her life but that she had caused “very serious injuries with a knife” to the victim of the assault. Judge O’Kelly said that he could give very little benefit to Ms Doyle because there was very little in mitigation and that the offence was on the upper end of the scale.
When Ms Geoghegan said that the Probation Service had agreed to work with Ms Doyle for 12 months and that Ms Doyle was fearful of losing her home, Judge O’Kelly replied that if he gave the defendant a fully suspended sentence, it would “no doubt” be appealed for leniency by the DPP.
Instead, he adjourned sentencing for a year, calling it “a two-edged sword”, because he will impose an appropriate custodial sentence if she gets into trouble.
Ordering Ms Doyle to continue engaging with the Probation Service, Judge O’Kelly adjourned sentencing until the first sitting of Carlow Circuit Court next year.
