Courts

Former couple jailed for attacking and robbing pensioner and visually impaired man on same day

One victim of Christine Ward (36) and Derek Bewley (48) was struck with a clawhammer while the other was stabbed repeatedly

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Christine Ward did not have cancer but told a man she later robbed that she did and would have to tell her children she was going to die. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Thu Feb 15 2024 - 17:35

A man is to serve 8½ years in prison for attacking a then 79-year-old widower in his home with a clawhammer and, on the same day, stabbing and robbing a visually-impaired man.

The widower, now aged 84, who was also stabbed multiple times, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court he survived “by the grace of God”.

At a previous hearing, he said he opened his front door to a woman who was seeking shelter from the rain. The court heard the pensioner knew the woman as Christine Ward (36) as she had called to his address five or six times previously asking for money and each time he had given her small sums of €5, €10 or €20.

Once Ward was in the hallway, the court heard, she was followed into the house by her former partner Derek Bewley (48), who was wielding a clawhammer.

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Ward (36) pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at the man’s house in Artane on November 2nd, 2018, with seven other counts taken into consideration. She was sentenced last month to 5½ years in prison with the final 18 months suspended for three years, to run consecutively to a 4½ sentence for the robbery.

Passing sentence on Bewley on Thursday, Judge Orla Crowe said both accused carried out two offences within three hours of each other against vulnerable people.

The judge sentenced him to 4½ years in prison for the robbery of the visually-impaired man and 7½ years in prison for the aggravated burglary of the widower, which are to run consecutively. She suspended two years of the overall sentence, reducing it to 10 years, and then further suspended 18 months of the sentence for three years to aid his rehabilitation.

Bewley pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, possession of a hammer and stealing a wallet containing €600 during the same incident.

Garda Brian Morrissey told prosecuting counsel that the widower had answered his doorbell at 8pm to Ward, who asked if she could come in for a minute out of the rain. When she came in she started crying, saying her cancer was back and asking how she would tell her children she was going to die.

Her phone then lit up and Bewley then came into the hallway with a clawhammer, shouting and demanding money. A struggle ensued when the widower tried to grab the clawhammer and he was struck in the ear with it, shattering his hearing aid.

The man was also stabbed repeatedly on his hands and was bleeding heavily as he made his way from his front door to his kitchen, leaving a trail of blood.

Ward, with an address at De Paul Ireland, Little Britain Street, Dublin 7, and Bewley, with an address at North William Street Flats, Dublin 1, robbed the man’s wallet, which contained €600 in cash, of which he had collected €520 from the post office that morning. They also stole his phone and Skoda Octavia car.

The victim had to walk from Artane to Coolock to summon help from his son as he had no car. He was brought to Beaumont Hospital and a medical report said he was stabbed multiple times. He received 25 stitches in his hands and arms, sustained severe bruising to his ribs and left ear, and required a blood transfusion due to the level of blood loss.

In a victim impact statement read out on his behalf, the man said his total losses amounted to €4,775. This included the loss of the cash in his wallet, his housekeys, his car keys and his iPhone. The court heard his hallway and kitchen had to be redecorated due to damage caused by blood spattering at a cost of €3,000.

He said he suffers from PTSD and gets startled every time he hears the doorbell ring. He has become reliant on sleeping tablets and has lost all trust in people, the court heard. The man said his life changed forever when someone that he had shown kindness to came to his house armed and with an accomplice.

He said he feared he would die that night and that his son had to move in with him afterwards to ensure his safety. “My faith is very important to me, and it’s clear that it was only for the grace of God that I survived that night,” the man wrote.

Judge Crowe asked if Ward had cancer at the time. Her defence counsel, Cathal McGreal BL, replied: “There was no cancer, but there certainly are children.”

The former couple also pleaded guilty separately to robbing a wallet and an iPhone from a visually impaired man earlier on the same date on North William Street.

Garda Shane McGrath told Jennifer Jackson BL, prosecuting, that he was alerted to the robbery and met the 56-year-old victim who was walking from the post office when he was mugged. He said a girl and a man came up to him from behind and grabbed his wallet from his back pocket. He initially thought it was just a girl but then noticed another hand and a struggle ensued.

The victim said the man stabbed his right hand and his lower waist nine times with a sharp object and that the girl stabbed him on the left side of his face. During the struggle, the man’s iPhone worth €300 fell out of his pocket, and the girl took it, and both accused ran away. The damage to his phone cost €280, while the repair of his specialist glasses cost €320, the court heard.

In a victim impact report read out on his behalf the man said he no longer goes near groups and does not go out at all after 6pm. He said he feels afraid and very vulnerable due to his visual impairment.

The court heard that when Ward was arrested, she initially denied all involvement but later identified herself in CCTV footage. Bewley has 79 previous convictions, including for theft, drug offences, assault, criminal damage and production of an article.

John Moher, BL, defending Bewley, said: “A lifetime of addiction has reduced him to the level of this type of offending. The offence has all the hallmarks of drug-fuelled offending.”

He said the mitigation does not come close to balancing the scales. His plea was late, which dilutes its value. He asked the court to take into account that his client bears a heavy burden of responsibility for this offending.

The court heard Bewley and Ward had been a couple who were in the same clinic and that once every few weeks he would buy a “rock” of crack and she would buy a pack of “gear” or tablets.

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