'They wanted me dead' - Irish grandmother slashed in face while she lay in her bed

A GRANDMOTHER dived under her bed to escape from a group of women, including a mother and daughter who slashed her in the face and hand with knives, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court has heard.

The victim, aged 61, has been left with “permanent disfiguring scarring” following the assault which, the court heard, saw her caught by the hair “like a rag doll”. The woman recalled at least eight women in her bedroom and her bed being “surrounded” before the attack. 

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“I can still see their faces and hear myself roaring for mercy to let me go. I don't know how I survived it. They wanted me dead, that's how I feel,” she said in a victim impact statement.

Four women appeared before Judge Fiona O’Sullivan on Monday in relation to the violent incident at a house in Rathkeale on December 10, 2019.

Mother and daughter, Nora (Josie) Harty, aged 58, and Mary Ellen Daly, aged 35, both of Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm.

Christina Casey, aged 48, of St Aidan’s Close, Brookfield, Tallaght, Dublin pleaded guilty to violent disorder. Ms Casey is a sister of Ms Harty.

Rita Johnson, aged 51, of St Ita’s Street, St Mary’s Park, Limerick city pleaded guilty to trespassing. Ms Johnson’s daughter is married to a son of Ms Harty.

Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley, instructed by State solicitor Brendan Gill, outlined the evidence with the assistance of Sergeant Rob Sheehy.

Ms Buckley said on the day before the attack, the victim and her daughter had been involved in a physical altercation with Ms Daly and a woman (not before the court) outside Dunnes Stores on the Childers Road in the city. The victim told gardai she believed she struck Ms Daly first. Prior to that incident the court heard that “something happened on a party bus”.

The day after the altercation in Dunnes, the injured party was lying in her bed in her home in Rathkeale at around 1pm.

“She opened her eyes and she heard shuffling. She thought it was a family member, and then she realised that there were three women coming for her. She described Ms Daly, Ms Harty and Ms Casey. She said there were at least eight women in the room and her bed was surrounded. The first thing she heard was Ms Harty saying, ‘We're not letting you go. We're cutting you up. We're killing you’.

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“Ms Daly said, ‘I'm cutting you up. I'm killing you’. She described that she thought she was going to die and was 100% sure she was dead. She said Ms Harty and Ms Daly had knives in their hands and Ms Casey had a baseball bat,” said Ms Buckley, who outlined that it was the mother and daughter - Ms Harty and Ms Daly - who caused the injuries to the victim with knives.

“She remembers them slashing at her face and that Ms Daly caught her by the hair like a rag doll. She described her hand being slashed as she put it up to protect myself,” said Ms Buckley. Photos of her injuries, a broken window and door, blood and hair on the bedside table, and blood on bedsheets were handed into the judge.

Ms Buckley said other women were hitting the victim with sticks but that this was a “blur”.

“She said she crawled under the bed to save herself,” said the prosecuting barrister.

The court heard that the four accused women were seen leaving the house by a person in a caravan parked in a yard at the side of the house. The witness described 20 people, who were angry and screaming, running out of the house.

The victim was taken to University Hospital Limerick for treatment of the slash injuries to her cheek, thumb and index finger. She underwent a number of operations in the following months and years.

In her victim impact statement, she said: “My face and hands were destroyed, affecting how I look. After my injuries I will never be the same in my face and the pain never goes away from my hand.”

She said she has constant anxiety, gets panic attacks and is always looking over her shoulder “waiting to be attacked again”.

Ms Harty, Ms Daly, Ms Casey and Ms Johnson were later arrested by gardai with Sgt Sheehy confirming they all denied being at the house in Rathkeale.

Liam Carroll BL, representing Ms Harty; Grace Hogan BL for Ms Daly; Joseph McMahon BL acting for Ms Casey and Johanna O’Connor BL, representing Rita Johnson, all made pleas of mitigation on behalf of their clients.

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They expressed their clients' remorse and apologies with a number handing in positive reports from the Probation Service and Tipperary Rural Travellers Project.

The defence barristers asked the judge not to jail their clients by suspending any prison sentences or impose community service orders.

Judge O’Sullivan said there is a lot to consider and adjourned sentencing.