A YOUNG woman who stabbed a man in his 20s in the chest during a row at a house party, partly piercing his heart, has been given 240 hours of community service.
The court heard the victim’s right lung had collapsed and there was a knife embedded in the right side of his heart. However, the court heard that the victim, Darren Ryan, had recovered and had been able to return to work on a part-time basis in September 2008.
Claire Nolan (24), of Castlecomer Road, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, appeared before Kilkenny Circuit Court yesterday.
The court heard Ms Nolan (24) pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Ryan at a party in the town on January 30th, 2008.
Garda Donnie Duggan, of Castlecomer Garda station, told an earlier sitting of the court that when he called to the house at 2am he found Mr Ryan “lying on his side and there was a black-handled steak knife in his chest”.
Mr Ryan was taken to St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, and later transferred to St James’s Hospital, Dublin, where he underwent an operation to remove the knife.
Garda Duggan said Ms Nolan informed gardaí later that night that she had stabbed Mr Ryan.
The court had heard an allegation that Mr Ryan had head-butted Ms Nolan during a row leading up to the stabbing incident, and that Ms Nolan told a third party she was “going to kill him”.
The court had heard Ms Nolan was drinking heavily on the night, and there was a series of fights in the house leading to the stabbing incident.
Garda Duggan told the court yesterday that Ms Nolan had not come to the attention of gardaí since she pleaded guilty to the assault in April of this year.
John O’Kelly SC, for Ms Nolan, told Judge Olive Buttimer that she had been a guardian for her younger brother since her mother died when she was a teenager. He said the youth was doing well in secondary school.
Judge Buttimer sentenced Ms Nolan to 240 hours of community service in lieu of 12 months in prison, and ordered her to continue attending addiction counselling and to make attempts to secure employment.