A 24-year-old Galway man who stabbed another man 14 times with a knife and left him to bleed on the street close to the victim's home was jailed for 3½ years yesterday.
Christopher King, formerly of Rian Luachra, Ballybane, Galway, and now of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Galway Circuit Criminal Court to stabbing Kenneth Keady early on October 9th last year close to Mr Keady's home at Castlepark, Ballybane.
Garda Gerry Carroll said the victim, a decent, hardworking young man, had intervened to break up a row between King and another man, when King suddenly turned on him and began stabbing him with a concealed knife which had a three-inch blade.
Neither Mr Keady nor the other man realised he was being stabbed at the time, and the victim thought he was just being thumped very hard.
King ran off, having stabbed Mr Keady four times in the back, once in the face and numerous times on his upper body and right arm. Mr Keady collapsed on the street and was taken home.
Garda Carroll said that when he arrived on the scene Mr Keady was lying on the front room floor at his home "pumping blood".
He had suffered a collapsed lung in the attack and spent 18 days in hospital. He had recovered physically, but had been upset at the length of time it took for the case to come to trial and feared he would have to give evidence.
Defence barrister Geri Silke said King was deeply sorry and affected by what he did. He had thrown the knife away on the night and now wished to apologise to Mr Keady for the injuries he sustained.
Judge Raymond Groarke said this had been an utterly vicious attack and no explanation had been given to the court as to why the accused had been carrying a knife in the first place.
"The use of a knife wielded so frequently and with such viciousness is of concern," he said.
Judge Groarke said that while the maximum sentence for assault causing harm was five years, he would have to give credit for King's plea and remorse.
He sentenced the accused to 3½ years, backdated to when he went into custody last June.