FURY AS KNIFE MANIAC IS CAGED FOR 3 YEARS
Judge suspends most of murder bid jail sentence
Michael Corbett A MAN who attacked two campers in an unprovoked assault has been jailed for three years.
Michael Corbett, 28, was sentenced to nine years in prison for his crimes, but had six suspended as he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
The father of one had pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the attempted murder of the 17-year-old on June 27, 2016, at the Hellfire Club on Dublin’s Montpelier Hill.
Mr Justice Michael White had previously praised the young man’s two friends for coming to his aid only to be assaulted themselves.
He yesterday praised Corbett’s first victim, who had received a four-inch stab wound to his chest during the attack.
The judge said he had shown “consider- able courage’”on the day when he was just short of his 18th birthday. His friends, a man and woman, were 18 and 19. They are not being named for legal reasons.
Justice White noted all had suffered considerable stress, which he said was ongoing. He said the first victim was “close to losing his life”.
He added: “It’s luck more than anything else that dictated that he survived and recovered.” The young man and woman, who were assaulted after the attempted murder of their friend, spoke outside of court about their disappointment at the suspension of six years of the sentence. The man described it as ridiculous. He said: “It’s law, not justice,” but added he trusted the judge’s opinion.
The man added: “I’m afraid of people, normal people. I shouldn’t have to worry that someone might just hit me out of nowhere, completely unprovoked… We shouldn’t have to be afraid. It shouldn’t be this way.”
The young woman said they were angry at the suspension of six years and that it was really hard to come to court and see the man, who had attacked them.
She added: “I can remember his eyes when he looked at me. He’s looking at all of us the same way. I thought we were dead.”