EIGHT YEARS FOR MAN WHO SAVAGELY ATTACKED EVA(89)
A MAN who savagely beat an elderly woman was sentenced to ten years in prison, with two of those years suspended. Jamie O’Brien (22), formerly of 6 Hazelwood, Fassaroe, appeared in Wicklow Circuit Court yesterday ( Tuesday) for sentencing.
He had admitted burglary, false imprisonment, and the assault causing serious harm of Eva Sutton (89).
A co-accused has also admitted the offence and awaits sentencing.
A MAN who brutally attacked an elderly woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with the last two years suspended.
Jamie O’Brien (22) formerly of 6 Hazelwood, Fassaroe, Bray, was one of two men to break into the home of 89-year-old Eva Sutton in the early hours of September 15, 2015. The men beat her and tied her up, ransacked the house, and remained at the property for 90 minutes.
O’Brien was before Judge Michael O’Shea at Wicklow Circuit Court yesterday (Tuesday) for sentencing. Last December, he entered a plea of guilty to burglary, false imprisonment and serious assault causing harm.
‘It is unimaginable that any human being could subject another human being to such a degrading, humiliating, horrific, shocking and terrifying ordeal,’ said Judge O’Shea.
He said that Mrs Sutton had been an extraordinary and independent lady prior to the attack.
‘ These offences have simply ruined her life,’ he said.
Garda Patrick Milward told the court that at the time of the offence Mrs Sutton was 89 years of age and living alone in her home on the Dublin Road in Bray, where she had resided for more than 50 years.
O’Brien entered the house at 4.38 a.m. that morning, and left at 6.03 a.m., the court heard. The front door was kicked in. Mrs Sutton was in bed and heard a bang so she came down.
In a statement, she told gardai: ‘ They went for me and demanded money and jewellery. They were kicking me and put the hand of my walking stick around my neck. They were vicious with me.
‘I was knocked to the ground. I said to them “I’m dying, I’m dying”, it made no difference to them.’
They asked Mrs Sutton if she had a safe. ‘I said I’m a widow and a pensioner, why would I have a safe?
‘ They kicked and hit me all over my body and tied me up in the hall. They dragged me by the hair into the sitting room, shoving me in.’
When she asked them not to pull her by the hair, they stopped and started kicking her in the head and chest.
They couldn’t find her bag, but did take her watch. ‘ They did their best to pull my wedding ring off but did not succeed,’ she said.
One of the men had a scarf wrapped around his head which kept falling off, Mrs Sutton said in her statement.
‘He looked out the window and I asked what was he looking for, he said the police. I said they would be passing quickly.’
They tied her up with dog leads and belts, and left her in the sitting room before leaving the house. They also threatened to kill or shoot her during the time they were in the house.
‘I was so frightened,’ she told gardaí. ‘ This terrified me. I thought they would never leave. It seemed endless.’
Mrs Sutton managed to release the straps and get outside. A garda patrol car happened to be passing and one of the gardaí went to assist Mrs Sutton while the other went in the direction the men had gone.
Several items of jewellery, including an engagement ring, and £100 Sterling were taken in the burglary.
Mrs Sutton’s daughter Amanda prepared a victim impact statement based on information obtained from her mother.
The court heard that Mrs Sutton suffered multiple fractured ribs, a punctured lung, broken nose and had to have stitches on her face and legs. She had deep bruising to her face, back legs and all over her body.
She has had difficulty sleeping at night, needed her wounds dressed every day and has had physiotherapy for lung capacity.
‘She was tortured, taunted and dragged by her hair around her beloved home,’ the court heard in a medical report read out by State prosecutor Paul Murray along with the victim impact statements. ‘She has had bouts of depression, and unmitigated anger. Mrs Sutton said that time is a great healer, but time is not on her side. If she hears a bang in the kitchen, she wakes up, crying out, imagining that it is happening again.’
The court heard that she decided not to return to her home after what was described as ‘an hour and a half of hell’ on September 10, 2015.
‘She would have gone mad awaiting hooded phantoms returning to do their worst,’ the report read.
Mrs Sutton had been living peacefully in her home, enjoyed her garden and her pet rottweiler, and prior to the attack was a gregarious and outgoing person. The court heard that her dog was out in the yard at the time of the attack.
Before the attack, Eva had won a life achievement award from the RNLI, she organised sales of work, quizzes, War on Want meetings and Bray Cualann historical society evenings. She enjoyed a varied and active social life in her beloved Bray.
‘All those activities are in the past now,’ the report read.
The court heard that her 98-year-old brother, who had also lived alone in Bray, was so traumatised that he decided to move to assisted accommodation.
Mrs Sutton’s son Thomas said that the bruising on his mother’s body was so black and severe that he had never seen the like in all his days.
A resident of Italy, he happened to be in Ireland at the time of the attack. He had trusted that his mother would be safe in her home.
One of Mrs Sutton’s grandchildren said that her granny had previously been ‘such a confident, independent woman. She managed her own life, cooked, cleaned, managed her own health, social life and doctor’s appointments. She is now a shadow of that person. She was taken by force out of her community that morning.’
‘I’ll never forget wading through two feet of debris trying to forensically sort through glass crockery and clothes,’ said Amanda Sutton, the victim’s daughter. ‘Oh my God, what torture did she go through? How could they not have empathy for a frail old woman? I want to tear the limbs from these savages and torture their families. ’
In a report from Leopardstown Park, where Mrs Sutton now resides, they said that Mrs Sutton often says ‘ they did not just beat me, but they robbed me of my home’.
Gardaí identified the men using CCTV from the area nearby. There was also blood evidence found on the clothing of Jamie O’Brien. The court heard that jewellery found near where they were seen belonged to Mrs Sutton, and one of the men attempted to buy something that day using Sterling.
Senior counsel Damien Colgan, acting for O’Brien, asked Garda Patrick Milward if the fact that O’Brien was admitting the offence had spared her from coming to court and reliving her ordeal.
‘I don’t believe so, I think she’s re-lived it every day,’ said Garda Milward.
Mr Colgan said that his client had had little or no supervision in family structure growing up, and that his father had died in 2014. He said that O’Brien had substance abuse problems but has undergone detox in custody. He has been in custody since May 2016.
The court heard that the O’Brien family home has been targeted since the incident and the family has left the vicinity.
‘He has difficulty remembering exactly what happened,’ said Mr Colgan. He added that his client is in protective custody. He is currently serving a sentence of nine months for a burglary.
Judge O’Shea said that Mrs Sutton was ‘an extraordinary lady’.
He said she was living a very independent life, and it was remarkable that she had the confidence at that age to reside alone and be completely self-dependent.
He said that it couldn’t have been clearer to those who entered her home that Mrs Sutton was an elderly lady. ‘Instead of leaving her alone they attacked her. They appeared to have no concern whatsoever for her being firstly a female, and secondly a person of such age.
‘ They exploited the situation and she was completely defenceless and in a hopeless position. What could she possible do? She acted with great bravery. She was assaulted savagely, brutally, and made a prisoner in her own home, deprived of her liberty and subjected to a vicious, violent, brutal and savage attack.’
A second man awaits sentencing in the matter.
SHE WAS SUCH A CONFIDENT, INDEPENDENT WOMAN... SHE WAS TAKEN BY FORCE OUT OF HER COMMUNITY THAT MORNING