THUG GETS 12 YEARS FOR STAB ATTACK ON MUM AND CHILDREN Court told bravery of son and daughters saved woman’s life
He stabbed both my son and daughter badly and I thought we were all killed
A THUG has been jailed for 12 years for stabbing a mother of three who needed nine hours of life-saving surgery.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard the victim only cheated death because her courageous children came to her aid.
They raised the alarm and jumped to the assistance of their 47-year-old mum when Thomas O’sullivan broke into their home in the city on December 23 last year.
The 54-year-old, of Silvercourt, Silversprings, Cork, was jailed for 12 years with the last two suspended.
He admitted assault causing serious harm to the woman and assault causing harm to her daughter, 20, and 10-yearold son.
Another teenage daughter who was present for the attack was not physically injured.
The court heard the mother was in hospital until January 17 with a punctured lung.
In a victim impact statement, she said that on the evening of the assault she and her three children had gone for a takeaway.
They sung festive tunes in the car on the way home and her 10-year-old was eagerly anticipating Christmas. She was in the bedroom of her home at about 11pm when the accused burst in to the room wearing a balaclava.
She said: “He began to stab me all over my body. He pushed me back on a bunk bed. I thought he was going to rape me.
“He kept stabbing me and the knife was tied to his wrist like a charm bracelet.
“I pushed him on to the ground and pulled his leather jacket over his face.
“When the children heard the screams my eldest daughter ran in to the room and saw him continue to stab me. She jumped on to him too.
“My son came in to the room and was screaming, ‘Please, please stranger leave my mummy alone’. He stabbed both my son and daughter badly and I thought we were all killed. He kept repeating, ‘I am going to kill you’.
“When the accused Tommy O’sullivan pulled off the balaclava I fully realised who was trying to kill us in the room.”
The woman told how she now suffers from PTSD and the whole family bear emotional scars from the incident.
She added: “I have lost all confidence. I cannot breathe properly because of my punctured lung.
“I watch my children having nightmares and hear them scream so we are constantly reliving that night.
“I was shocked when I discovered my children were sleeping with items under their pillows to protect themselves from further harm.
“It is so hard for anyone to imagine how you would have planned and intended to cause me and my family such harm, leaving me almost dead.
“I hope God will forgive you but I cannot.”
Det Garda Mark Durkan told the court O’sullivan held a personal grudge against the woman arising out of an incident a few years earlier.
He said six paramedics were required to tend to the injured family at the scene.
The officer said the 20-year-old woman received a laceration to the back of her head and a defensive wound to her hand.
The boy sustained a single stab wound under his armpit, while his mother had multiple stab wounds to the torso.
Gda Durkan described the incident as having been pre-planned and entirely without provocation.
He told the court O’sullivan had initially considered ending his own life. However, he then changed course and went to the house in a fit of rage.
He said the defendant would have succeeded in carrying out his plan only for the intervention of the woman’s three children.
The officer told Judge Sean O’donnabhain their “act of bravery” did not come without a price.
Defence counsel Ray Boland said his client suffered from severe mental health difficulties and was very remorseful for his actions.
He appealed for leniency given that a signed plea had been entered in the case.
The lawyer apologised to the family on behalf of his client.
MOTHER OF THREE IN VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT TO COURT