‘MY ACT OF KINDNESS WAS TURNED AGAINST ME’

94-YEAR-OLD RECOUNTS IMPACT OF STABBING IN HIS HOME

A 93-year-old man feared for his life while he was being stabbed by an intruder he had initially tried to help.

‘My act of kindness was turned against me and our lives have been changed for ever,’ Donnie Lynch said in a Victim Impact Statememt to the circuit criminal court.

Before Judge Martina Baxter was James Reilly (31) who pleaded guilty to charges arising out of the attack which occurred at Mr Lynch’s Blackrock home on an afternoon last August.

Reilly, who lived in Gort na Glaise, near to his victim’s Sandy Lane residence, admitted stabbing the pensioner four times with a knife after demanding money.

Mr Lynch was rushed to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for life-threatening injuries to his stomach.

Reilly, a heroin user, had asked Mr Lynch, now aged 94, for water after saying his car had broken broken.

As the obliging gentleman walked to the rear of his house to get a watering can, he was followed by the defendant who proceeded to assault Mr Lynch at the back door of the house he shared with his wife of 68 years Kathleen who witnessed the shocking incident.

Reilly eventually fled the scene empty-handed.

A significant response to garda enquiries by the local community led to the swift arrest of Reilly later the same day. He has been in custody since.

He was in court last week for sentencing. The case was adjourned for reports.

In the Victim Impact Statement, Mr Lynch also said: ‘I remember seeing the ambulance man’s face and I thought I wouldn’t see my wife and family again.

‘I’ve lost my independence just like that. My twilight years should have been happy. It is not fair.’

It was feared a 93-year-old man had died when he lost consciousness in his kitchen after being stabbed multiple times by an intruder he had initially gone to help.

That evidence was given at the circuit criminal court in Dundalk on Thursday at the sentence hearing of James Reilly (31) who pleaded guilty to charges arising out of the attack which occurred in Blackrock on the afternoon of 10 August, 2019.

He stabbed the victim Donnie Lynch four times in the stomach with a knife before fleeing.

Mr Lynch was taken by ambulance to the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda where he underwent emergency surgery for life-threatening injuries.

Reilly, of 61 Gort na Glaise, Blackrock, admitted a charge of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Lynch and a second offence of an aggravated burglary while in possession of a knife.

Other charges were taken into consideration. Judge Martina Baxter heard State’s evidence last week before adjourning to the circuit court in Drogheda on 1 July next, on an application by defence counsel, because a psychological report on the defendant was not ready.

Reilly was remanded in continuing custody until then.

Garda Michael Rochford, Blackrock garda station, gave evidence that on the day in question Donnie Lynch was sitting on a bench at the gable end of his house, ‘St. Gerard’s’, in Sandy Lane.

People would often stop to admire his garden in which he had sun flowers growing.

Reilly walked past the gates to the house and greeted Mr Lynch ‘ hello’. He replied ‘ hello’ before this man walked past a little bit then turned and walked into the driveway.

He said his car had broken down, and asked for water. Mr Lynch said he would get a watering can the man could fill. He asked him to wait before going to the back of the house.

As he went to walk back, he noticed the other man had followed him.

Reilly said: ‘I don’t want water. I want money.’ He pointed a red-handled knife which he had taken from his pocket at Mr Lynch’s heart.

The victim said he hadn’t much money, and was told aggressively to get whatever he had.

In a subsequent statement, Mr Lynch said he was afraid he was going to be stabbed and feared for his life.

He walked to the back door and saw his wife Kathleen, aged 89 at the time, inside the porch. They tried to block Reilly at the door.

Mrs Lynch started to scream. She got a phone and shouted that she was going to get the gardaí.

Reilly pushed into the porch and started to stab Mr Lynch.

After being stabbed once or twice, the elderly man tried to grab the knife but was stabbed in the stomach area again, and sustained a cut to his left hand as he attempted to get the knife.

Reilly then ran off. At that stage Mrs Lynch dialled 999 and also called family members.

Mr and Mrs Lynch went into the kitchen. He saw that there was a lot of blood. He thought a piece of his side was missing.

He recalled his son Fintan arriving and talking to him to keep him awake.

There was blood on the floor, down the hall and into the kitchen, Gda Rochford continued.

When Fintan Lynch entered the home, and went to attend to his father. He saw him holding his stomach with both hands.

Mr Lynch fainted and the family members who had gathered by that stage thought the worst as grand-daughter Tracey McKeown who was among the first of the scene administered first aid to her grandfather.

Gardaí and paramedics arrived and found the victim in a grave condition, sitting slumped back in a wooden chair.

One of the paramedics remarked to a colleague that it looked like they were in a slaughter house, and in a statement said it was one of the most gruesome scenes he had experienced in 18 years on the job.

Photographs of the scene were handed into court.

The judge heard that it helped Mr Lynch that the paramedics were trained in Advanced Life Support Treatment.

Nonetheless, they expressed concern whether he would survive.

Mr Lynch was fully conscious on arrival at hospital, and underwent emergency surgery. It transpired there was no need for open surgery.

He was discharged on 21 August and received respite care in the Cottage Hospital.