A 22-YEAR-OLD TRIED to murder his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her over 50 times on the street in a “ferocious, unwarranted, unjustified and unprovoked attack” that has left the victim with lifelong injuries, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

“Only for an off-duty paramedic, I would have been left to die,” 21-year-old Niamh Kelly told the court today, during the sentencing hearing of Josh O’Brien.

The court heard that the attack lasted up to six minutes, with a piece of the knife O’Brien used being still lodged in Kelly’s skull after she spent seven months in hospital recovering from her injuries.

O’Brien, of Walkinstown Avenue, Crumlin, Dublin 12, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Kelly at Firhouse Road, Firhouse, Dublin 24 on 19 September, 2024.

Detective garda’s evidence

Detective Garda John Dalton gave evidence to counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Vincent Heneghan SC, that O’Brien and Kelly had been in a relationship for over a year and had a baby boy together.

He said that in the summer of 2023, the relationship “got rocky”, with O’Brien on one occasion calling Kelly names on Snapchat, saying she would be “a terrible mother” and calling her “a c*nt, a slag, a slut”.

On another occasion two months before the attack, O’Brien got angry and again called her names, before pushing her onto a bed and threatening to kill her.

Dalton said that on September 19, O’Brien and Kelly were walking towards where Kelly lived, when O’Brien told her he wanted to get back together.

Dalton said that O’Brien started punching Kelly to the face and kicking at her, before he pushed her to the ground and took out a knife, which he used to start stabbing her.

Kelly described it as “a flicky blade” and said she was shouting at him to stop while he was stabbing her. O’Brien stabbed the victim in the torso and back, while she also suffered injuries around her head.

Portion of blade remains in victim’s head

O’Brien stood on Kelly’s head, with the attack continuing for five to six minutes before nearby security personnel tried to stop O’Brien and he ran away.

Kelly suffered over 50 stab wounds throughout her entire body. Dalton said that to this day, a small portion of the blade is still lodged in the victim’s skull, as it would be too difficult a procedure to remove it.

Dalton said that during garda interview, O’Brien said Kelly was turning her back on him, so he felt betrayed. He told gardaí he was hearing voices saying, “don’t take that disrespect”, and he had four drinks on the day of the attack.

“I didn’t intend to kill her, I was just listening to the voices… I didn’t want to kill her; if I really wanted to kill her, I would have continued,” O’Brien told gardaí.

Dalton also said that O’Brien was found with a shaving razor on his person when arrested, with the defendant telling gardaí that he had “Googled shaving her head”.

The detective explained that this referred to an incident that was reported in the media about someone who shaved a woman’s head “so the girl wouldn’t be attractive to other people”.

No previous convictions

The court heard that O’Brien has no previous convictions.

A medical report on Kelly, read out by Heneghan, indicated that she experienced extensive and long-term injuries. She suffered stab wounds all over her body, multiple broken bones in her skull, bleeding on the surface of her brain and a stab wound to one eye, which caused the eyeball to rupture, resulting in permanent damage.

She had multiple broken bones in her face, a broken bone in her neck, a lung injury that required draining, a wound to her liver and a cut through part of her spinal cord that caused paralysis in her left leg. She also experienced damage to her hands, which required intensive therapy to regain normal movement.

The medical report concluded that without medical care, Kelly would have died. The loss of her sight is permanent and, while she can walk short distances, she requires the use of a wheelchair for long distances.

In her victim impact statement to the court, Kelly said that her life “changed forever both physically and mentally” after being stabbed over 50 times.

“I was defenceless….Only for an off-duty paramedic, I would have been left to die,” she said.

She told the court that she has struggled to sleep since then, so she was put on medication to help her sleep, but she still gets flashbacks.

“When I woke up in hospital after the incident and was told about all my injuries, I didn’t want to believe it. All the things I wanted to do with my life are gone. I cried and cried, believing my life was over,” she said.

“As a 21-year-old, I feel that my future has been destroyed.”

Defence counsel, Michael O’Higgins SC, said that his client wished to apologise to the victim for having “done something terrible”.

Counsel described this as a “ferocious, unwarranted, unjustified and unprovoked attack,” which was carried out in a fit of temper that was “driven by overwhelming jealousy”.

O’Higgins said that O’Brien “loved her very much”, but he was “not equipped to make a go of that relationship” as he was possessive and immature. He said that O’Brien is consumed with remorse and accepts full responsibility for the attack.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring put the matter back to Monday, 20 October for finalisation.