Jailed for knife attack on partner

Cavan Circuit Court heard that a man, who repeatedly stabbed and slashed his former partner with a butter knife, laughed after drawing blood during a sustained domestic attack.

Charles McDonagh (47), who had previously served years in prison for a brutal assault on another former partner, stabbed Margaret Kelly with such force that the knife snapped in half. He was only months out of jail at the time, having served most of a three-and-a-half-year sentence imposed by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in June 2021.

The court was told that McDonagh and Ms Kelly had been in a relationship for approximately four years and that he had been living with her at her home in Lodgeview, Cootehill, when the attack occurred. The sustained assault took place over a 12-hour period between 1pm on September 16, 2024, and 1am the following morning.

In June, before Judge John Aylmer, McDonagh pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Ms Kelly and also to assaulting Garda Ivan O’Hara at Bailieborough Garda Station on September 17.

Detective Garda Ann-Marie Larkin told the court she was among several officers who responded to a report of a domestic violence incident at a house in Cootehill.

Earlier that day, the court heard, McDonagh and Ms Kelly had travelled by bus to Cavan Town to go shopping. While there, they purchased alcohol — six bottles of beer and two ciders — which they consumed at the rear of St Clare’s College. It was stated that the previous day marked the anniversary of McDonagh’s sister’s death and that he had “wanted to go drinking”. Ms Kelly told gardaí she drank the two ciders and “a couple” of the beers.

At around 7pm, the pair returned to Cootehill, bought more beer and cider, and continued drinking beside the Darley Health Centre. By 11pm, they were back at Ms Kelly’s home in Lodgeview.

Ms Kelly, who did not provide a victim impact statement, told gardaí that when McDonagh’s temper would “rise” he would use derogatory language towards her, calling her a “slut” and a “slag”.

When he threatened to “cause her harm”, she attempted to flee through the front door but was blocked by him. She then tried to barricade herself in the sitting room, but McDonagh forced his way in armed with a blue-handled butter knife and shoved her onto the sofa.

McDonagh sat beside Ms Kelly and “pushed the knife into her face”. When blood appeared, he “laughed” said Det Harkin, and he continued to “slash and stab” at Ms Kelly’s body, face, neck and arms who began screaming for help. The attack only ceased when the knife “broke at the neck” due to the force being used.

When McDonagh left the blood-soaked victim to go to the toilet, Ms Kelly escaped through a window and ran to a neighbour’s house, where the alarm was raised.

Photos of injuries

Photographs of her injuries were handed to the court, showing slash marks to her ear, cheek and left shoulder, as well as a deep wound to her abdomen. One image showed a bloodstained towel, while another depicted a clump of hair lying on the sitting-room floor, which McDonagh had ripped from the top of Ms Kelly’s head.

“It is a clump of hair pulled from the roots,” Det Garda Larkin told the court.

Ms Kelly also suffered extensive bruising, and a medical report recorded that she had sustained multiple superficial abrasions.

The knife was shown to Judge Aylmer, who observed that it had a somewhat serrated edge and, in his view, could also be described as a table knife.

Tried to head butt garda

Following his arrest, McDonagh was aggressive towards gardaí. The court heard that he spat at and attempted to head-butt Garda O’Hara. He was intoxicated at the time and, when deemed fit for interview, answered “no comment” during two Garda interviews.

At the time, McDonagh had 49 previous convictions, including five for assault — three of which were for assault causing harm. He also had 20 convictions for public order offences, five for road traffic matters, two for criminal damage and one for drugs.

McDonagh was represented by John McCoy BL, instructed by Tracy Horan Solicitors, who conveyed a full apology to Ms Kelly. The victim was not present in court but remained outside. An apology was also offered to members of An Garda Síochána who “had to put up with unacceptable behaviour” following McDonagh’s arrest.

“He is truly sorry,” Mr McCoy said.

A probation report was furnished to the court, and counsel said McDonagh was prepared to give an undertaking to stay out of Cootehill and away from Ms Kelly in future.

“She doesn’t want to have any contact with him anyway,” Det Garda Larkin responded.

Judge Aylmer was told the maximum sentence available was 10 years and was asked to consider Section 40 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018, which requires offences committed against a partner or former partner to be treated as an aggravating factor.

In mitigation, Mr McCoy pointed to McDonagh’s early guilty plea and submitted documentation showing that he had used his time in custody productively. He said McDonagh had experienced a number of close bereavements, including the deaths of a brother and sister within days of each other.

During the 14 months McDonagh spent on remand, he completed an anger management course and studies in restorative justice.

“He has used his time wisely,” Mr McCoy said, urging the court to show some degree of leniency, such as a community based penalty.

“He has not allowed himself to fester in self pity,” said the barrister, stressing that McDonagh has shown an “ability to change”.

However, it was noted to the court that following his release from prison for the 2021 assault on a former partner, McDonagh had failed to seek addiction support and did not engage with the MOVE (Men Overcoming Violence) programme, despite this being a condition attached to the suspended portion of his sentence.

The judge regarded the fact that this was McDonagh’s second time before the courts in a five-year period for attacking a partner as an “aggravating” factor, though thankfully none of the injuries sustained by Ms Kelly had been life threatening.

“It was a very violent attack,” he said, placing theoffending in the mid-range but bordering on the “upper” end of the scale meriting six and a half years behind bars in the first instance.

With mitigation he reduced that to four and half years, and suspended the final 12 months on condition that McDonagh enter a 12-month bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, go under the supervision of the probation service post release and abide by all directions, engage with the MOVE programme and abstain completely from unprescribed drugs and alcohol for that period.

“You should consider yourself very fortunate that you’re being dealt with in such a lenient way,” stated Judge Aylmer, who also back-dated the sentence for time already served.

The charge of assaulting a garda was taken into account, and a nolle prosequi was entered in respect of McDonagh making a threat to kill Ms Kelly.