A young woman who repeatedly slashed another woman with a Stanley knife and "effectively cut up her face" as a result of an argument over an alleged affair was jailed for four years yesterday. Ms Deborah Cowap (24) needed 44 stitches to several wounds to her face and would be scared for life as a result of the "horrific" knife attack by Sharon Ryan in 1995, Judge Kieran O'Connor was told in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
There had been bad feeling between the Ryan and Cowap families since 1993, when Ms Gillian Cowap, a sister of the victim, was accused of having an affair with the defendant's brother-in-law. Ms Gillian Cowap (now 21) had always denied having an affair with the husband of Ms Tracey Ryan (28), a sister of the defendant, Garda Joseph Keely told Mr Patrick Marrinan, prosecuting.
Sharon Ryan (23), of Streamville Road, Kilbarrack, pleaded guilty to wounding Deborah Cowap, formerly of Ferrycarrig Park, with intent at Grove Lane, Malahide Road, Dublin, on the night of February 13th, 1995.
Garda Keely said in evidence that the Cowap sisters attended a disco with friends at Tiffany's night-club. The Ryan sisters were also there with friends. Accounts of their encounter in the disco were conflicting, but it was agreed that there was a minor fight before the Cowaps and their friends left to get a taxi. Some witnesses claimed Sharon Ryan had shown them a Stanley knife she had concealed under her coat.
As the Cowap group approached the Malahide Road, a car containing the defendant, her sister and friends, pulled up. Ryan ran at Ms Deborah Cowap, but no one saw the wounds being inflicted.
Judge O'Connor described the offence as "horrific" and said that if one of the wounds had been slightly lower it could have killed Ms Cowap. In all his years of experience, a woman had never come before him for such an offence. Ryan had had five previous convictions, covering drugs, larceny and assault. She had also been convicted in May, 1996, of unlawfully possessing a hammer. All these were offences usually committed by men, he added.
The judge said that he was impressed by evidence that Ryan was attending a drug-treatment course for women and that her desire for change was highly regarded by her counsellors. He fixed July 16th, 1998, as a review date for the four-year sentence.