A man who brutally attacked an elderly woman in Co Wicklow has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two years suspended.
Jamie O'Brien (22) formerly of Hazelwood, Fassaroe, Bray, was one of two men to break into the home of 89-year-old Eva Sutton in the early hours of September 15th, 2015.
The men beat her and tied her up. They ransacked the house, remaining at the property for 90 minutes.
O’Brien was before Judge Michael O’Shea on Tuesday at Wicklow Circuit Court for sentencing. He entered a plea of guilty last December to burglary, false imprisonment and serious assault causing harm. The second man awaits sentencing in the matter.
“It is unimaginable that any human being could subject another human being to such a degrading, humiliating, horrific, shocking and terrifying ordeal,” said Judge O’Shea.
He said that Mrs Sutton had been an extraordinary and independent lady prior to the attack. “These offences have simply ruined her life,” he said.
"She was tortured, taunted and dragged by her hair around her beloved home," the court heard in a medical report
O’Brien entered the house at 4.38am that morning, and left at 6.03am.
The front door was kicked in, the court was told. Mrs Sutton was in bed and heard a bang so she came down.
In a statement, she told gardaí: “They went for me and demanded money and jewellery. They were kicking me and put the hand of my walking stick around my neck. They were vicious with me. I was knocked to the ground. I said to them, ‘I’m dying, I’m dying’, it made no difference to them.”
They asked Mrs Sutton if she had a safe. “I said, ‘I’m a widow and a pensioner, why would I have a safe’? They kicked and hit me all over my body and tied me up in the hall. They dragged me by the hair into the sitting room, shoving me in.”
When she asked them not to pull her by the hair, they stopped and started kicking her in the head and chest. They couldn’t find her bag, but did take her watch. “They did their best to pull my wedding ring off, but did not succeed,” she said.
One of the men had a scarf wrapped around his head which kept falling off, Mrs Sutton said in her statement. “He looked out the window and I asked what was he looking for, he said the police. I said they would be passing quickly.”
They tied her up with dog leads and belts, and left her in the sitting room before leaving the house. They also threatened to kill or shoot her during the time they were in the house. “I was so frightened,” she said. “This terrified me. I thought they would never leave. It seemed endless.”
Mrs Sutton managed to release the straps and get outside. A garda patrol car happened to be passing. One of the gardaí went to assist Mrs Sutton and the other went the direction the men had gone.
Several items of jewellery, including an engagement ring, and £100 Sterling were taken in the burglary.
Mrs Sutton’s daughter, Amanda, prepared a victim impact statement based on information obtained from her mother.
The court heard that Mrs Sutton suffered multiple fractured ribs, a punctured lung, broken nose and had to have stitches on her face and legs. She had deep bruising to her face, back legs and all over her body.
She has had difficulty sleeping at night, needed her wounds dressed every day and has had physiotherapy for lung capacity.
"She was tortured, taunted and dragged by her hair around her beloved home," the court heard in a medical report read out by State prosecutor Paul Murray along with the victim impact statements. "She has had bouts of depression, and unmitigated anger. Mrs Sutton said that time is a great healer, but time is not on her side. If she hears a bang in the kitchen, she wakes up, crying out, imagining that it is happening again."
The court heard that she decided never to return to her home.
“She would have gone mad awaiting hooded phantoms returning to do their worst,” the report read.
Mrs Sutton had lived peacefully in her home for 54 years. She won a life achievement award from the RNLI, she organised sales of work, quizzes, War on Want meetings and Cualann historical society evenings. She enjoyed a varied and active social life in her beloved Bray. “All those activities are in the past now,” the report read.
The court heard that her 98-year-old brother, who had also lived alone in Bray, was so traumatised that he decided to move to assisted accommodation.
A report from Leopardstown Park, where Mrs Sutton now resides, said that Mrs Sutton often says: "They did not just beat me, but they robbed me of my home."
Senior counsel Damien Colgan, acting for O'Brien, asked Garda Patrick Milward if the fact that O'Brien was admitting the offence had spared her from coming to court and reliving her ordeal.
“I don’t believe so, I think she’s re-lived it every day,” said Garda Milward.