Man pleads guilty to attempted murder of woman left paralysed after shooting

A Dublin man has pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the attempted murder of a woman who was left paralysed after a shooting in front of her daughter at her home in the city last year.

Mother-of-one Sinead Connolly was shot three times in front of her young daughter as she sat on her sofa at Bernard Curtis House apartments in Bluebell, Dublin 12, in March of last year. She suffered paralysis below the chest as a result of her injuries.

On Monday at the Central Criminal Court, neighbour Dean McCarthy (32) of Bernard Curtis House, Bluebell, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Ms Connolly on March 6th, 2021.

McCarthy, who is in custody, only spoke at his brief arraignment to answer “guilty” when the charge of attempted murder was read to him by the registrar.

McCarthy has also been charged with possession of a Grand Power semi-automatic handgun with the intent to endanger life on the same date and location.

His case was adjourned to April 8th for a sentence hearing to allow for the preparation of a probation report and a victim impact statement.

At an earlier court hearing, Detective Garda Colm Reynolds said that Ms Connolly sustained life-threatening injuries which were “unlikely to be reversible and will change her life from here on in”.