Prison for Stanley knife attack on uncle

If it wasn’t for the attempted intervention of a passing ‘Good Samaritan’, and the quick response of gardaí, a man whose face was sliced open by his nephew would most likely have bled to death on the street, a Cavan court was told.

The Circuit Court sittings last Friday heard that John McDonagh has been permanently disfigured following the attack by his nephew Terence McDonagh at the defendant’s home at 4 Old Lakeview Terrace, Cavan, on July 9, 2022.

After smashing the injured party’s phone in a fit of rage T. McDonagh (34) produced a knife from his right pocket and jumped on top of his uncle who was sitting on the couch, kicking him to the chest before carving a 15-20 centimetre cut from his left eye and upper brow back to his ear. The resulting injury, and Mr McDonagh’s subsequent refusal to undergo surgery in order to attempt to amend the damage, has now left him with lasting nerve damage.

T. McDonagh also inflicted an approximate 10 centimetre wound to the right side of his uncle’s face, from the middle of his cheek to the back of his hairline, before the injured party managed to flee the property in the direction of Cavan Town centre.

The defendant came before the court having ple aded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm, replacing an original count on the indictment of alleged intentional or recklessly causing alleged serious harm to Mr McDonagh.

The reduced charge meant the maximum sentence available to the court was five years instead of life imprisonment.

The plea was accepted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) where it was admitted there was little chance of the victim coming to court to give evidence against his nephew.

Mr McDonagh did, however, provide a victim impact statement, outlining how he was “not the same person” since.

He finds it “hard to sleep” and often suffers “flashbacks”, causing him to wake in terror fearing the defendant is going to come back for him.

Mr McDonagh said he finds it difficult to speak about what happened with his family. He’s taken to growing a beard to cover up the scarring, and his vision in his left eye has now become blurred.

“The doctor told me had I gone a shade further I would have bled to death”.

The victim impact statement was read onto the court record by investigating Detective Garda Eamon McCann.

The circumstances leading up to the attack by T. McDonagh on his uncle were relayed to the court by counsel for the State, Monica Lawlor BL, instructed by solicitor Rory Hayden.

Mr McDonagh had travelled to Cavan the “week before” to spend time with his nephew. They had filled their days in the lead up to the attack “drinking, fishing and walking around”.

On the date the incident Mr McDonagh woke around 7-8am, where the defendant’s wife Kathleen made him a cup of tea. He and T. McDonagh then went “down town and bought drink”.

It was about 11:30am when T. McDonagh used his uncle’s phone to contact a family member in Newry.

Mr McDonagh told gardaí that T McDonagh “got annoyed” and attempted to break his uncle’s phone over his knee. He then “smashed” the phone on the floor and “jumped” on the remnants of the broken device.

Telling his uncle he would “cut him up”, T. McDonagh produced the Stanley blade and “sat on top” of a stricken Mr McDonagh. “You’re a dirty b**tard. I’m going to cut your throat. You’re a dirty b**tard. Get out of my house. I’ll do murder for you,” T. McDonagh is reported to have said.

Following his escape Mr McDonagh says he felt blood running from his face “like a tap”.

A woman stopped by the side of the road to pick him up and take him to the hospital, but soon after Mr McDonagh alighted the vehicle in favour of trying to get a bus out of Cavan.

He told gardaí when T. McDonagh was sitting on top of him and stabbing him in the face he was “very afraid”.

Ann O’Sullivan was the woman who attempted to pick a topless blood-soaked Mr McDonagh from the roadside up to bring him to the hospital. She’d driven past once, but in good conscience turned back to offer help. She said the top Mr McDonagh was carrying was saturated in his blood. She could also see, due to the severity of the cuts inflicted to the man’s face, the “white of the bone”.

Mr McDonagh told her his nephew had “tried to cut his ears off”.

He apologised for the “mess” his blood was making in her car, and she gave him €20 before he left.

Gda McCann told the court that, by now, a number of people had made contact with gardaí to inform them of the situation involving a blood-soaked male wandering the streets.

Garda Anthony Quane found Mr McDonagh in the Sportsworld shop on Townhall Street. He had his back to the door, and was described as “unrecognisable” with blood “spurting” from his facial wounds.

Soon after Mr McDonagh became “unresponsive”.

Gardaí were left with two options- either wait 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, or to transport a now unconscious Mr McDonagh to the hospital themselves.

Photos of Mr McDonagh’s injuries formed part of the Book of Evidence served in the case. They were presented to the judge who was told they were “difficult to look at”.

“I felt it is important,” said the judge after examining the pictures provided.

A medical report was also included.

Mr McDonagh was transported from Cavan to a hospital in Dublin. His injuries were treated under general aesthetic after Mr McDonagh refused surgery. The cuts were so deep they had to be “closed in layers”.

Det Gda McCann arrested T McDonagh at 3:15pm at his home.

187 previous convictions

T McDonagh had 187 previous convictions at the time, nine of which were for possession of knives; three for assault including one for assault causing harm; three for obstructing a police officer,; and one each for breach of the peace and endangerment.

T. McDonagh appeared before the Cavan Circuit Court sittings represented by Fiona Murphy SC, instructed by Sara Brennan BL.

In response to questioning Det Gda McCann said Mr Donagh was “not aware” of just how serious the injuries he received were.

It was further stated by Det Gda McCann that there were young children “present in the house” at the time the attack took place.

By way of mitigation, Ms Murphy presented a letter from her client referencing matters alleged to have occurred while in his early teens, and an acknowledgment he had “lost his head” after drink was taken.

The father of four she accepted was a “long way off from having an unblemished record”. T. McDonagh had a problem with heroin in the past, but alcohol was the main factor of addiction.

While in custody she said T. McDonagh was engaging with an addiction counsellor, and was focused on being a “supportive husband and father” upon release.

In considering sentencing Judge Aylmer described the reduced charge against T McDonagh as “fortunate”.

As it stood, the attack featured at the “upper end of the scale” of such offending, something he said which should “come as no surprise” to the accused.

While his previous criminal record was another aggravating factor, an “offence of this seriousness was clearly an aberration”.

The plea, he accepted, had “value” and he would give a “benefit of the doubt” regarding claims made in the letter produced to the court.

A sentence of three and a half years imposed was back-dated to when T. McDonagh first went into custody on July 11, 2022.

“He can consider himself a very lucky man,” said Judge Aylmer of T. McDonagh.