FOUR women, including a mother and daughter, have been remanded on bail after they admitted offences in which a woman was violently assaulted at her home in Rathkeale.
The four pleaded guilty to amended charges during their trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court and will be sentenced later this year.
The trial heard allegations that the women were involved in a break-in at the victim’s home, during which she suffered knife wounds to her face and hand, on December 10, 2019.
Gardaí told the court there were blood spatters and blood stains on floors, walls, and bedsheets in the victim’s bedroom at her home at Ballingrane, Rathkeale.
The prosecution told the women’s trial that the alleged violence followed an earlier alleged altercation between the victim and some of the women at a location in Limerick.
Nora ‘Josie’ Harty (57) and her daughter Mary Ellen Daly (née Harty, 34), both of Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, County Limerick, had initially contested charges of assaulting the victim, Christina McCarthy (née Harty), causing her harm, while armed with knives, during an aggravated burglary.
Nora Josie Harty, a first cousin of the victim, also contested a charge of causing criminal damage at the victim’s home.
However, in the middle of their trial, both Ms Harty and Ms Daly, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of assault causing harm to the victim.
A co-accused, Christina Casey, had initially denied during the trial a charge of intending to assault Ms McCarthy causing her harm while armed with a baseball bat during the alleged aggravated burglary at the victim’s home.
Ms Casey (48), of St Aidan’s Close Brookfield, Tallaght, Dublin, eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder, where she used or threatened to use unlawful violence that would cause the victim to fear for her safety.
A fourth accused, Rita Johnson (51), of St Ita’s Street, St Mary’s Park, Limerick, who had initially denied a charge of burglary at the victim’s home, during which she intended to assault and cause harm to the victim, eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of trespassing at the victim’s home.
Rita Johnson’s daughter, Ciara Johnson (30), St Ita’s Street, St Mary’s Park, who was also on trial, was acquitted by the jury of a charge of intending to assault Ms McCarthy with a knife during the alleged aggravated burglary.
