Man gets five years in jail for slashing a woman’s face with a Stanley blade
By Sonya McLean
A man has been jailed for five years after he slashed a woman in the face with a Stanley blade leaving her with injuries that a judge described “as horrible an injury as I have ever witnessed”, reports Sonya McLean.
Mark Twomey (21), of Camac Park, Bluebell, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Melody Mbadugha on August 14, 2018.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
Dean Kelly BL, prosecuting, said the Director of Public Prosecutions considered the crime to “lie at the high end of the spectrum” for such an offence.
Judge Martin Nolan noted that he had been shown photographs of the woman’s injuries before and after she was treated. He described the photographs of her face in the aftermath of the assault as “sickening, to put it mildly”.
“It was as horrible an injury as I have witnessed,” he commented before he said that he also saw photographs of her cheek following treatment and noted that she will be left with “a significant scar”.
“It will affect how other people view her. It will affect her self-esteem,” the judge said.
Judge Nolan sentenced Twomey to eight years in prison, but suspended the final three years having considered his co-operation with the garda investigation.
He said Ms Mbadugha was called out of her hostel and initially attacked by another person before Twomey slashed her cheek with a blade.
Judge Nolan said it is “only known to him [Twomey] why he did it, but he applied a Stanley blade to the face of another human being.”
He acknowledged that Twomey had mental-health difficulties and cognitive problems, but said he knew the difference between right and wrong and he would have known the consequences of using such a weapon.
Judge Nolan acknowledged that a psychological report “paints a very grim picture” outlining that Twomey came from a “broken home” and was “exposed to violence”.
He accepted a report from the Probation Service that concluded Twomey now accepted “the devastation of his substance abuse” and was willing to work with probation officers to “address his risk factors”.
Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, said his client had a history of schizophrenia and significant neurocognitive deficits, severe language difficulties and comprehension, far below what would be expected for his age.
He said Twomey was a vulnerable person who “perceived a level of provocation” from the victim, but accepted this reaction to that was “disproportionate”.
