A 61-year-old man who slit his partner's daughter from ear to mouth in a vicious, unprovoked attack has been sentenced to four years by Judge Frank O'Donnell.
Patrick O'Connor, a father of three, violently assaulted Ms June De Khors after she had been out with her mother, Ms Theresa De Khors, and later returned to the flat that the couple shared.
He shouted at the 37-year-old Ms De Khors that he was going to knife her and slit her throat before he lunged at the woman with a carving knife, grabbed her hair and held her down.
He slashed her face from her ear to her mouth while her mother looked on screaming. Blood immediately began to pour from the wound and a neighbour called an ambulance and the gardaí.
O'Connor, from Hampstead Court, Ballymun, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Ms De Khors on July 17th, 2002. He has one previous conviction.
Judge O'Donnell suspended the last 12 months of the sentence because of the age of the accused, and because up until this he had never been in any real trouble with the law.
"It's very clear that the wound inflicted to the injured party was quite extensive and you are very lucky that you are not facing a more serious charge than assault causing harm. It is hard to describe the serious effects that this has had on your victim but I will take everything that was said on your behalf into account," he told O'Connor.
"However, the one central theme that dominates the patchwork of violence in this case is the picture of a young, attractive female being held down by a stronger and vengeful man and him cutting her across the face as she begged him to leave her alone," he concluded.
A visibly distraught Ms De Khors ran from the courtroom crying after the sentence was handed down. She said: "That's not justice. That's all he gets for ruining my life."
Ms De Khors had told Mr Vincent Heneghan, prosecuting, that she wished she could have last year back, and that the incident had completely changed her life.
"I needed to receive plastic surgery the next morning and I'm due to go back this July for further treatment. I'm on sleeping tablets and have used numerous creams for my face but nothing seems to make it any better," she said. "I don't work and I can't socialise because I'm too conscious of the scar and I receive counselling once a week. My whole life has changed and I can't hide what happened because of the scar. I thought I would be better dead. I can't understand why anyone could be so violent but my son and two daughters have given me the strength to survive," she added.
Ms Marie Torrens, for O'Connor, said she was instructed to tell Ms De Khors that her client was deeply sorry for his actions, but the victim said that sorry made no difference at this point.
Garda Adrian Mulligan told Mr Heneghan that Ms De Khors claimed there was some disagreement between the two a number of weeks before the incident but O'Connor denied this. The court heard that there had been some ongoing difficulties between the accused and the injured party's boyfriend.
Garda Mulligan said Ms De Khors was taken to the Mater Hospital but O'Connor had left the flat.
Later that night he voluntarily called in to Ballymun Garda station and admitted being the man who had slashed her face.