Teen avoids jail for his role in boiling water attack on woman

A teenager has been given a fully-suspended sentence for his role in a two-hour attack during which a woman was tied up, assaulted and scalded with boiling water.

Josh Conlon (19) with an address at Meath Place, Thomas Street, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Ms Lyndsey Byrne at The Maltings, Watling Street, Dublin 8 in November 2021.

At a hearing in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday, Judge Martin Nolan said it would be unjust to imprison Conlon as he was not the “prime mover” of this assault.

The judge sentenced Conlon to three years but suspended it in full, ordering him to be of good behaviour and abide by the supervision of the Probation Services for a year.

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Judge Nolan said that although Conlon did help in the assault, he probably didn’t expect that his co-accused Paul Clarke would scald Ms Byrne using boiling water.

“The prime mover of this assault was Clarke. Conlon had a much lesser role. He pleaded early, he’s still young and he has no record of conviction,” said the judge.

On Tuesday, Judge Nolan sentenced Paul Clarke to four years and three months for attacking Ms Byrne and her partner Emmet Black at their apartment over the course of two days.

The court heard that a number of men called to Ms Byrne and Mr Black’s apartment and assaulted the couple. Ms Byrne was tied up, hit over the hands, arms and chest with a stick and repeatedly scalded with boiling water

Ms Byrne told gardaí she was tortured by Clarke (29) and thought she was going to die from the pain she endured after he poured a kettle and several cups of freshly boiled water over her during the two attacks.

Clarke, described in court as the “main man”, was accompanied by Conlon on the first day of the assault and by Craig Kelly (38) on the second day, the court heard.

Clarke, with an address at Clonard Road, Crumlin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to Lyndsey Byrne. A second count of assault causing harm to Mr Black was taken into consideration.

Kelly, with an address at Dowland Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of simple assault.

Garda Kerrie Sullivan told Garret Baker SC, prosecuting, that Clarke phoned Mr Black on the day in question, looking for a box of cannabis that Mr Black was supposed to be holding for him. He then called to the couple’s apartment accompanied by Conlon looking for the drugs and became angry when he learned Mr Black did not have them.

The men ordered Mr Black to come up with a sum of €7,000 to pay for the missing drugs, and Mr Black left the apartment to try to get money from the Credit Union.

Clarke then ordered Ms Byrne to put her hands out on the table, before he repeatedly struck her with a stick – believed to be a mop or broom handle – which she described as “agony”.

The court heard Clarke then told Conlon to boil a kettle of water and to add sugar to the kettle. The sugar could not be found, but the kettle was boiled and the water was poured into a number of cups, which Clarke then poured over Ms Byrne’s hands and arms. Ms Byrne described the pain as “excruciating” but said she “just had to bear it”.

During the assault, Ms Byrne said Clarke repeatedly asked her where the drugs were but she did not know. Ms Byrne’s wrists were then bound with a phone charger and a scarf was tied around her mouth. Clarke sat her down in the chair and began hitting her with the stick. He tried to pour boiling water in her face at one point but missed when she managed to turn her head aside.

Sometime later, Clarke phoned Mr Black and “flew into a rage” upon hearing he had not been able to get any money. He ordered Mr Black to return to the apartment and Ms Byrne was taken into the bathroom and forced into the bath.

The court heard Mr Black was attacked upon his return to the apartment and Ms Byrne was ordered to clean up the blood and tend to his head wound. The two men then left the apartment, with Clarke saying he would return the next day.

Around lunchtime on November 12th, Clarke came back to the apartment accompanied by Kelly. Another row ensued about the missing drugs, before Kelly hit Ms Byrne over the chest twice with a stick and Clarke poured a kettle of boiling water over her, hitting her shoulder and arms.

The court heard Ms Byrne was in “absolute agony” and her skin was blistering. She said Clarke then told her: “You think that’s bad, wait until I skin you alive.”

The men left shortly afterwards and Ms Byrne, who had called 999 before they arrived, ran out of the apartment and was met by two gardaí. She was taken to hospital and treated for second-degree burns and a suspected collapsed lung.

In her victim impact statement, which was not read out in court, Ms Byrne said it was “the most traumatic and frightening thing to have ever happened to her,” and that it changed her life forever. She “genuinely thought she was going to die from the pain,” Mr Baker said. Ms Byrne was in court for the sentence hearing.

The court heard Mr Black declined to co-operate with gardaí, except for allowing them access to his medical records.

The court heard the three men were identified from CCTV in the apartment building and arrested.

Clarke has been in custody ever since. He has 79 previous convictions including several for assaulting a peace officer, violent behaviour in a Garda station, public order offences and assault causing harm.

Paul Carroll SC, defending Clarke, said he was not going to gainsay the “horrific nature” of the attack on Ms Byrne. He said his client is doing well in custody and had a letter of apology to hand into court.

He said Clarke had a history of drug addiction which led to him getting involved in drugs “to a certain level”.

Judge Nolan said Clarke’s behaviour against Ms Byrne was “incredibly serious”.

He handed down a sentence of four years and three months and backdated it to November 2021 when Clarke went into custody.

Kelly has 109 previous offences, mostly road traffic offences, but also for drug offences and robbery. Keith Spencer BL, defending, said his client had spent about four and a half months in custody on this matter. The maximum sentence for simple assault is six months.

Judge Nolan handed Kelly a five-month sentence for his role in the incident and took into account the time he has already spent in custody, noting Kelly would not spend much longer in custody as a result.

Defence counsel for Conlon told the court he was the youngest defendant by 10 years and had just turned 18 on the day in question. He has no previous convictions.

He said Conlon “broke ranks” with his co-accused and pleaded guilty at an early opportunity, compared to the other two who entered guilty pleas on the first day of his trial. He expressed remorse, the court heard.