Tenant gets nine years in jail for attack on 81 year old landlord
An 81-year-old man was severely beaten, suffering life-threatening brain injuries and locked in a room for 29 hours by his tenant.
Michael Lally from Rathcormack was hit with an iron bar and tied up by 51-year-old Stefan Schaufler who was a tenant at his rented house at 199, River Rd, Cartron Point on 20 th June, 2018.
The German native was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the assault by Judge Francis Comerford (right) at Sligo Circuit Criminal Court, with the final six years suspended for six years.
He had pleaded guilty to assault causing serious harm, false imprisonment, theft, and the unauthorised taking of a vehicle.
The court heard the alarm regarding Mr Lally’s whereabouts was raised by his daughter Linda on June 21st. Gardaí issued a missing persons notice and Mr Lally’s car was later found parked on the corner of Holborn Street.
Following CCTV reviews of the area it was established that Mr Lally’s Opel Mocha was parked there at 9.38am on 20 th June. CCTV showed a male removing a red suitcase from the car and making his way to Stephen St that morning.
He was later identified as Stefan Schaufler, a tenant of 199, River Road, owned by Mr Lally for a year and a half.
Gardaí made their way to the rented house and after gaining access through a neighbour’s garden they heard noise coming from a locked room upstairs.
Garda Kevin O’Hora said after breaching the door they found Mr Lally lying on the floor disorientated and badly injured, with a very swollen face and covered in blood.
It was discovered the retired farmer had been there for 29 hours, having initially came to the house the previous day by appointment, as Schaufler had told him there was a leak in an upstairs room of the house.
Mr Lally found there was no leak and was then told to sit on the bed by the defendant who demanded money from him.
Mr Lally said he did not have any money and was then hit with an iron bar across the head and back a number of times.
He was tied up and Schaufler took his bank card and demanded the pin which Mr Lally gave him.
The court heard that the curtains in the room were closed and Mr Lally’s hearing aids and glasses had been knocked off him.
There were two cash withdrawals from Mr Lally’s account, €200 on 20 th June at Stephen St and a further €200 on 21st June in Rosslare, Co. Wexford.
On 19 th June Schaufler was emotional and had told neighbours his daughter had been in an accident and he had to get to her. He asked his neighbours to look after his cats.
Evidence from Dr Karen Harris from Sligo General Hospital detailed that Mr Lally had ‘remarkable swelling’, multiple deep lacerations to his face and forehead and the right side of his nose.
Mr Lally was dehydrated after being left 29 hours on a floor and required a CT scan on his brain which showed subdural and epidural haemorrhage.
A repeat scan later showed worsening of the bleeding.
The 81-year-old suffered a spine fracture which required him to wear a brace, and currently he still wears a support belt for his back.
The court was told that his brain injuries were ‘ life threatening’ and as a result he would have long-term issues.
Schaufler, a former army sergeant and Formula 1 engineer, gave himself up in Rosslare on 26 th June, 2018 after attending a local shop and asking for gardaí to come.
He was arrested under the Mental Health Act and later made full admissions. Schaufler had no previous convictions.
In a victim impact statement read out in court by Linda Lally on behalf of her father, Mr Lally said he could not see for three days following the assault. He suffered a fractured eye socket and has double vision most days, while his eye socket has since ‘fallen back’.
Having once had a great memory, Mr Lally now has to write everything down, has nightmares about the assault, has suffered weight loss and visible scarring.
He is no longer able to do jobs around his home or the homes of his daughters, and can no longer provide care to his wife.
As a result, his grandson now lives with the couple to help them.
Financially, Mr Lally had his €400 smartphone smashed, damaged hearing aids costing €4,500, loss of rent of €3,500 while his property was being renovated and €4,000 to complete the renovation.
The court was told the property was ‘covered in fleas’ from cats belonging to Shaufler.
Mr Lally has ongoing hospital appointments and is on three medications following the attack and expects more hospital bills. The cost of his two-week stay was €9,500.
Four of his daughters who lived abroad had to come home after the assault and all six daughters have taken time away from their families and work to assist their father.
Mr Lally said he has lost his confidence and can no longer drive at night. His wife was hospitalised after the assault due to stress.
The retired farmer concluded his statement by thanking gardaí, hospital staff, his family and the community of Rathcormac, Drumcliff.
Before sentencing, defence counsel Ms Eileen O’Leary SC said her client had asked her to apologise profusely to Mr Lally.
“He knows no sorry can be big enough to Mr Lally and his family’.
Ms O’Leary said her client was of the belief that his landlord was going to evict him and felt a sense of panic, desperation and stress and was in financial difficulty.
The court was told his behaviour was ‘ totally out of character’ and he had no addiction issues and was in good mental and physical health. Judge Francis Comerford described the assault as a “truly terrible crime.”
In sentencing Schaufler last Thursday 6 th December, Judge Comerford said the offender had been renting the house for the previous 18 months and had had “a good relationship” with Mr Nally.
He said Schaufler had summoned Mr Nally to the house under false pretences and attacked him with an iron bar as part of a premeditated plan, inflicting him with “repeated blows.”
“I find it hard to envisage anyone who could inflict these injuries on an 81-year-old man and then leave him without any help,” he said.
He noted Schaufler had spent “several days in Rosslare” before he turned himself in.
Judge Comerford said Schaufler told the Probation Service that he had suicidal thoughts but decided to surrender to the authorities. He noted the Probation Officer reported that Schaufler now believes himself to be in good mental health.
Referring to the defence position that Schaufler thought his daughter had been in a serious accident and was thus desperate to gather funds to return home to Germany, Judge Comerford said there was “no evidence that any accident ever occurred” and the fact that Schaufler might have been worried about his daughter didn’t “impinge on his decision to inflict harm on another person’s father and grandfather.”
The judge accepted however that there was an “element of desperation and irrationality” about this case and the fact that it was a one-off offence.
But he said the attack, the locking in the victim and the theft of his wallet and money, combined to “cross-aggravate each other.”
Judge Comerford said he didn’t know what was worse: “to stand over an 81-year-old man with an iron bar and harm him or then lock him and leave him at risk of dying alone.”
The judge said the assault was “very nearly near the top of the scale” of assaults because of the repeated blows on Mr Nally “solely for financial gain.”
“The consequences have been drastic for Michael Nally,” he said, adding that the attack had been a “first aberration” in the life of Schaufler that didn’t previously involve crime.
He noted Schaufler had no previous convictions, had expertise and professional qualifications, had a good relationship with his daughter and had been in prison for the last five months, during which time he had been co-operating with the prison authorities.
The Probation Officer said Schaufler was at a “low risk of re-offending within 12 months” but Judge Comerford said he had difficulty with that: “I don’t see how future irrationalities cannot be ruled out.”
He accepted the early guilty plea and Schaufler’s remorse and apology which showed he was taking responsibility for the crime.
He said however, that the courts had to make it clear that these kinds of attacks would attract a significant punishment as a deterrent.
He sentenced Schaufler to 16 years in prison with the final six years suspended for six years, which he said was a “severe sentence for a first time offender but said it was “a most grave offence.”
Judge Comerford sentenced Schauflter to 15 years for the false imprisonment, seven years for the robbery and two and a half years for stealing his car, all to run concurrently and backdated to 26 th June 2018.