A 50-year-old man who launched a “vicious” knife attack on a woman he was in a relationship with 15 years previously has been jailed for 14 years.
Denis Leahy of Queen Street, Dublin 7 was charged with attempting to murder Rose Kenny at School Street Flats, Dublin 8 on September 23rd, 2014.
Leahy pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Rose Kenny after the case had opened to the jury at the Central Criminal Court on June 22nd.
He had previously pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Ms Kenny at the same address on the same date.
Rose Kenny was attacked on the stairwell of her apartment complex on her way to work in a local creche.
Her injuries included three stab wounds to her neck and three stab wounds to her chest. One of the stab wounds to her neck went through the front of her larynx.
On Thursday Mr Justice Paul Butler sentenced Leahy to 14 years imprisonment and backdated it to September 23rd, 2014.
He said the victim impact statement given by Ms Kenny last week was “so moving” that he had to adjourn sentencing until today to consider all the matters carefully.
Mr Justice Butler also said that Ms Kenny was “obviously very popular” with the presence of all her peers in court.
He said the aggravating factors included the ferociousness of the attack and the injuries sustained to Ms Kenny.
“It was only thanks to the highly skillful medical intervention that Ms Kenny survived,” he said.
The judge said the attack by Leahy was premeditated and had been planned “for at least a day.”
He also said there was a “lack of remorse” shown by the accused and the court considered the offence to be at the higher end of the scale.
The judge said the mitigating factors included the fact that the accused had “no relevant previous convictions.”
“From an early stage he admitted the facts and at a late stage he entered a plea to count 1,” he said.
Upon handing down sentence Mr Justice Butler said: “The lowest sentence I can impose on this case is 14 years to date from September 23rd, 2014. I considered a suspension but there is no basis on which to do so.”
The brother of Rose Kenny spoke on behalf of his sister outside court on Thurday regarding the sentence handed down.
Paul Kenny said: "On behalf of Rose we would like to thank our friends, family and the investigating team.
“Although we think no sentence would have been harsh enough, we are very pleased with the outcome and we now hope that Rose can get on with the rest of her life. Its a fairly stiff sentence but it’s a terrible crime and we are glad the judge saw through everything.”