Man agrees to leave Ireland after serving sentence for attacking wife and family on Christmas Day

A man has agreed to leave Ireland after serving sentence for attacking his wife and family members during a Christmas Day gathering in Cork.

Laszlo Nemeth (58) gave the undertaking to leave Ireland within 72 hours of his release from prison as part of the terms whereby Judge James McCourt said he would suspend the final six months of a five year jail term he imposed on Nemeth for threatening to kill his wife and other family members

Nemeth, a Hungarian national of Glen North, Banteer, Co Cork pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Eva Nemeth (52) and to their son, Eric (30), producing a knife and an axe and making threats to kill both of them, and Eric’s girlfriend, Klaudia Borz (25) at Glen North on Christmas Day 2021.

Det Garda Padraig Reddington told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the couple married in 1990 and Nemeth had been violent to his wife eight or nine times. The court heard Ms Nemeth wanted to get away from Nemeth’s obsessive questions and constant arguments based on his belief she was having affairs.

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They had separated in November 2021 and while they did remain in contact it was by Facebook messenger and by email.

“He had threatened to run her over with a car. He would regularly accuse her of lying to him and make remarks about her having affairs. She agreed to meet on Christmas Day. She knew her son would be there at the house and she agreed to meet him. She arrived at 11.30 am,” the court heard.

Det Garda Reddington said that Nemeth joined his wife, Eva, his son, Eric and Eric’s girlfriend, Klaudia Borz at Eric’s home for Christmas Day with the day proceeding in a civil fashion with none of the parties drinking until Nemeth became aggressive in the afternoon.

“For the first couple of hours, her husband was civil, before again he began to question her, arguing and shouting. After 4pm she decided to leave – Eva, Eric and Klaudia said they were taking the dogs for a walk (as an excuse) and they all left.

“When Eva emerged outside the house with her overcoat and small rucksack, Lazslo Nemet advanced to her. He took a fishing knife from his pocket and stabbed his wife four times in the back. She turned around to defend herself and he stabbed her once in the chest,” the court heard.

When Eric Nemeth tried to intervene, the accused cut him on the finger with the knife and then picked up an axe and swung it at him.

Eric Nemeth dodged the blow of the axe and fled from his father who left the scene armed with the knife and fled into woodland.

He was found around two hours later by gardaí who had been alerted by Eric Nemeth and Ms Borz.

Eva Nemeth suffered injuries including five stab wounds including one which led to the collapse of her right lung.

She still suffers pain as a result of the injuries sustained in the knife attack.

Cross-examined by defence counsel, Ray Boland SC, Det Garda Reddington said that Nemeth was arrested and questioned but made no admissions regarding the assaults but did admit that he had threatened to kill his wife while he also confirmed that he had no previous convictions of any kind.

The court heard that the DPP had agreed not to proceed with an assault causing serious harm charge, contrary to Section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act against Nemeth over the attack on his wife but instead to proceed with a Section 3 assault causing harm charge.

Eva Nemeth (52) did not attend court but told in a Victim Impact Statement read by Det Garda Reddington that she was still terrified of her husband and was still haunted by what he had done to her, and she feared that he would still carry out his threats to kill her and their son and his girlfriend.

“I am still frightened by his words and threats to take my life …. I will not be able to step out to the street alone with peace of mind anymore. I have heard multiple times his death threats and I didn’t take them seriously enough.

“He promised he will never give up his ‘vengeance’ for leaving him. I will now be in constant fear if I have to travel home to Hungary or even, I’ll just be walking on the street in Mallow, thinking of when he will try to finish what he had started that Christmas,”

Prosecution barrister, Imelda Kelly BL told the court that the maximum sentence on the Section 3 assault causing harm charges were five years while the threatening to kill charges where Nemeth threatened to kill his wife, his son and Ms Borz carried a maximum sentence of ten years.

Judge McCourt said that Nemeth’s guilty plea and previous good record were mitigating factors while he would also take into account his expressions of remorse while he also noted that, as a Hungarian national with little English, prison time would be more difficult for him than for an Irish national.