A GRANDMOTHER was slashed in the face and beaten with sticks by a group of women at her home in Rathkeale, a court heard.
Christina McCarthy (61, née Harty) dived under her bed at her home to eventually escape the vicious assault, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Ms McCarthy was left with permanent disfiguring scarring following the attack on December 10, 2019.
She told Gardaí she woke up in the bedroom surrounded by a least eight women who set upon her.
“I can still see their faces and hear myself roaring for mercy to let me go,” Ms McCarthy said in a victim impact statement.
Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley told the court that Ms McCarthy was caught by her hair “like a rag doll” during the attack.
Mother and daughter Nora ‘Josie’ Harty (58) and Mary Ellen Daly (35), both with an address at Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, County Limerick, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Ms McCarthy.
Nora Harty is a first cousin of the victim, the court previously heard.
Christina Casey (48), of St Aidan’s Close, Brookfield, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
Rita Johnson (51), of St Ita’s Street, St Mary’s Park, Limerick City, admitted one count of trespassing at Ms McCarthy on the day.
The court heard that a day prior to the attack, the victim and her daughter were involved in an altercation with Ms Daly and another woman outside a shopping centre. The victim told Gardaí she believed she struck Ms Daly first.
Ms Buckley said that, on the day the victim was attacked, she was lying in bed in her home around lunchtime when she saw “three women coming for her” including Ms Daly, Ms Harty, and Ms Casey.
Ms Buckley said the victim heard Ms Harty tell her: “We’re not letting you go, we’re cutting you up, we’re killing you.”
Ms McCarthy told Gardaí Ms Harty and Ms Daly attacked her with knives and Ms Casey was armed with a baseball bat.
Ms Buckley said Ms Harty and Ms Daly caused slash injuries to the victim’s face and hands.
She said other women were hitting the victim with sticks but the victim told Gardaí that this was a bit of a “blur” in her memory.
The four defendants were observed by an independent witness leaving the victim’s home. The witness told Gardaí they saw 20 people running from the victim’s home.
Ms McCarthy was taken from the scene to University Hospital Limerick for treatment for slash wounds to her face, a thumb and an index finger. Ms Buckley said the victim underwent a number of surgeries as part of her treatment.
In a victim impact statement, Ms McCarthy said: “My face and hands were destroyed, affecting how I look, I will never be the same in my face and the pain never goes away from my hand.”
Ms McCarthy also stated that she continues to suffer with anxiety, panic attacks, and is constantly looking over her shoulder “waiting to be attacked again”.
Some time after the attack, Gardaí arrested Ms Harty, Ms Daly, Ms Casey, and Ms Johnson, who all denied being at the victim’s home on the day.
Defence barristers told the court their clients were remorseful and apologetic.
In further mitigation, a number of positive reports prepared by the Probation Service and Tipperary Rural Travellers Project were provided to the court.
The four accused’s barristers asked sentencing judge, Fiona O’Sullivan, to spare their clients from an immediate custodial penalty and instead impose community service orders.
The judge said she would consider the evidence further and impose sentence at a later date.
– Court Reporting Scheme