A man jailed for 15 years for a knife attack on a French student at her Dublin apartment has failed to have his sentence reduced.
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal today dismissed the appeal by Aleksejus Belousovas (31) against the severity of the sentence imposed in 2007 for stabbing Barbara Riouall, a marketing student in her 20s who came here to improve her English.
Belousovas, a native of Lithuania, had admitted before the Central Criminal Court he cut Ms Riouall's throat twice before stabbing her in the neck where the blade hit a vertebra and broke.
Mr Justice Barry White sentenced him to a total 15 years for attempted murder, assault causing serious harm and attempted robbery of Ms Riouall at an apartment at Bertram Court, Dublin on May 10th 2005.
In his appeal against severity of sentence, Belousovas argued the trial judge had failed to consider a number of matters, including that he would find prison life more difficult as a foreign national with limited English. The DPP opposed the appeal.
Dismissing the appeal, the CCA, with Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Michael Hanna and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, said it could "not understate" the "viciousness and seriousness" of the attack on Ms Riouall and could find no error with the 15 year sentence.
Mr Justice Finnegan noted Ms Riouall had experienced serious problems as a result of the attack, was in intensive care in a Dublin hospital for two and a half weeks and required 24-hour care for almost 18 months.
He also noted the trial judge had said the offences merited a life sentence but, having taken mitigating factors into account, he had imposed a 15-year term. Belousovas, he added, had been given every credit deserved for his plea of guilty and expression of remorse and the CCA was satisfied the trial judge had taken into account his being a foreign national.
The attack occurred when Belousvas, having bought what he believed was heroin, went to Bertram Court where he shot up under the apartment stairs. After discovering the heroin was fake, he decided to rob someone and came across Ms Riouall who only had €3.
He then stabbed her with a knife, threw her under stairs and went through her possessions. Mr Justice Finnegan said the young woman would have died had another resident in the building not come to her aid. The court also noted Belousovas was extradited from England to face trial, had been a drug user and had contemplated taking his own life after the attack.