Victim to meet man who tried to murder her
A Lithuanian man who attempted to murder a French woman outside her Dublin apartment by cutting and stabbing her throat with a knife is expected to meet face-to-face with his victim tomorrow.
It is the first time 'restorative justice', where a victim is given the chance to speak to their attacker, has been tried at the Central Criminal Court.
The encounter was set up today after Aleksejus Belousovas, aged 29, who was on trial for the attempted murder of Barbara Riouall, 24, dramatically changed his plea to guilty on day two of the hearing.
However, it will be up to the victim to decide whether or not to go ahead with the meeting, scheduled for around midday tomorrow.
Belousovas is then due to be sentenced at 2pm.
Ms Riouall who was studying marketing at Dublin Business School was "extremely lucky to have survived" the knife attack during an attempted robbery at her apartment in the Weavers, Bertram Court in Dublin 8 on May 10, 2005.
She had to undergo emergency surgery at St James’s Hospital to save her life.
Belousovas, with a pervious address on the North Circular Road in Dublin, stabbed her in the shoulder and cut her throat twice, before he stabbed her for a fourth time leaving a piece of the knife lodged in her neck.
The tip of the weapon broke off, after coming into contact with one of her vertebrae.
She then pretended to be dead as her attacker dragged her by the jeans and threw her under the stairs of her apartment building.
He went through her pockets and bag before moving off.
Following the guilty plea today, the trial judge, Mr Justice Barry White, thanked the jury panel for their important role in hearing the case and told them they were free to go.
Detective Inspector Gabriel O’Gara then told Mr George Birmingham SC about the garda investigation of the case.
He said Ms Riouall was returning to her apartment at around 7.30pm that evening, carrying a Polo Ralph Lauren bag over her shoulder, which contained her student notes, a few groceries and her mobile phone.
She was letting herself in the door when she saw a shadow behind her and had a knife held to her throat.
She showed Belousovas the €3 she had and when she showed him her bank card, he seemed to become quite agitated.
She shouted and a struggle developed during which he ended up on top of her.
She struggled to get control of the knife before he stabbed her in the right shoulder.
He then took the knife to her throat and cut her before removing it and repeating the action.
He also stabbed her in the neck where the knife penetrated one of her vertebrae, causing the tip to break off.
After the assault, Det Insp O’Gara agreed that Belousovas had got hold of her head and twisted it. Her response was then to play dead.
Very shortly afterwards one of her neighbours, Michael Walsh, came on the scene and heard a gurgling sound from under the stairs.
He called the emergency services, who were on the scene within minutes. A team of surgeons then fought to save Ms Riouall’s life.
Det Insp O’Gara agreed that any one of the several wounds inflicted on her were potentially fatal and she has been left with visible scars on her neck.
The possibility of plastic surgery has been discussed with her and she may need up to three operations.
Det Insp O’Gara said gardaí closely studied CCTV footage before they identified the accused from a logo on his work clothes.
They went to human resources at CLG construction who positively identified Belousovas. However when they called to his apartment on the North Circular Road it was empty.
They then met with his ex-girlfriend Inga Mekious and were told he had gone back to Lithuania.
A bag he had left with her was found to contain his work boots, stained with blood that matched that of Ms Riouall.
Belousovas was extradited from England to Ireland last year to face trial.
He has four previous convictions here for theft, intoxication in a public place and threatening and abusive behaviour, as well as a conviction under the Road Traffic Act.
Det Insp O’Gara agreed with defence counsel Mr Brendan Grehan SC that his client had indicated his willingness to plead guilty from an early stage.
He admitted charges of attempting to rob and intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Ms Riouall ahead of this week’s trial.
Det Insp O’Gara agreed that there had been a struggle during which Ms Riouall got the knife into her hand.
Her hand slipped down onto the blade and Belousovas pushed down on it so that she would release the weapon.
She could not speak in the days after the attack but told gardaí in writing that she thought she had been stabbed because she resisted.
Inga Mekious told Mr Grehan that she began dating the accused after he came to Ireland in 2001.
She said she knew his father had an alcohol problem. She said she ended their relationship when he became addicted to heroin, which he spent all his money on.
She said: "He wasn’t interested in anything but heroin."
Following the attack on Ms Riouall she got a call from him on May 11, 2005 and went round to his flat.
There she found him drinking whiskey and there was a rope was hanging from the ceiling. She thought he was going to kill himself.
She said she did not know about the incident he had been involved in and had paid for his airfare back to Lithuania.
Apart from two phone calls she had had no contact with him since.
Ms Riouall is expected to give a Victim Impact Statement when the sentence hearing resumes tomorrow.
