Sentence for stabbing of transvestite not unduly lenient, court rules
The sentence imposed on a young homeless man for stabbing a transvestite in the neck was not unduly lenient, the Court of Criminal Appeal held yesterday.
In turning down the State’s appeal against leniency of sentence, the CCA of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel O’Keefe held that although “at first sight”, the term handed down to Vincent Murtagh “seems lenient indeed”, given the circumstances of the case the sentence was “not unduly lenient”.
Murtagh (aged 25) pleaded guilty to causing serious harm to a nurse, and was sentenced to five years in prison with the last two years suspended by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on February 6, 2009.
The court heard that Murtagh, who was homeless at the time of the attack, had gone to the victim’s apartment on June 27, 2007, a few days after they first met and had engaged in sexual acts.
While there, Murtagh came up behind the transvestite with a Stanley knife and stabbed him in the neck.
The court was told the attack could have resulted in more serious consequences had it not been for the quick thinking of the victim who wrapped a towel around his neck to stem the bleeding.
He was left with a two-inch scar.
Counsel for the DPP, Vincent Heneghan BL, argued that the sentence handed down by the trial judge was unduly lenient given the serious nature of the offence.
Mr Heneghan said the attack was a premeditated one, where Murtagh had brought a knife to the home of his victim with the intention of assaulting him.
Mr Patrick Marrinan SC for Murtagh, described his client as a “vulnerable man” who had lost both his parents to drug related illnesses at a young age. He was battling his own drug problems at the time of the attack
The court also heard that Murtagh was in “a great deal of turmoil” having engaged in a sexual activity “with someone he thought was a woman”. In the intervening days he had signed himself into hospital as a suicide risk.
Mr Marrinan SC said following the attack his client immediately went from the apartment to a Garda station where he put the knife on the counter and told gardaí what had happened. He then brought them to the scene just as the victim was being put in the ambulance.
The CCA described Vincent Murtagh’s personal circumstances as “very tragic” but added that at the time of sentencing, he was making “serious strides to get his life in order”.
The court said it had been the trial judge’s desire that “there would be some light at the end of the tunnel” for the man, and that while the sentence was lenient, it was not in breach of principle.
