Mother acquitted of helping son to escape after he beat fiancé

The mother of a man who beat his fiancé and left her unconscious has been acquitted of impeding his arrest by bringing him to the airport and giving him cash.

Geraldine McMenamy (48) of Donamore Green, Tallaght, Dublin pleaded not guilty to two charges of assisting an offender by impeding the apprehension or prosecution of her son Paul McMenamy at locations in Dublin on February 8th 2012.

Mr McMenamy assaulted care worker Nicola Murray on February 5th 2012 at a house in Rialto, Dublin and left her lying unconscious in a bedroom for over twelve hours before calling an ambulance. The attack left Ms Murray with serious injuries to her brain.

Three days after the assault Mr McMenamy was arrested at a hotel close to the airport. He had a one-way ticket for a flight to Manchester and €600 cash.

It was the State’s case that the Geraldine McMenamy took her son to the airport and gave him €400 cash to help him escape. Her son had previously been arrested, questioned and released without charge before his arrest at the airport.

In 2013 Mr McMenamy was sentenced to six years with one suspended after pleading guilty to assault causing serious harm to Ms Murray. He has convictions for assaults on two previous girlfriends in 2005 and 2008.

A jury of seven women and five men at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court took one hour to acquit Ms McMenamy of assisting an offender by providing him with money.

The only evidence submitted by the defence was a bank statement showing a withdrawal of €400 cash from the account of Ms McMenamy’s husband on the relevant date.

Earlier Judge Martin Nolan directed that the accused by found not guilty of assisting an offender by providing transport in a vehicle. He said there was no evidence that she was driving the car in which she, her husband and their son travelled to Dublin Airport on February 8th.

The trial heard that the accused had seen Ms Murray lying unconscious and said she told her son to ring an ambulance but that he refused.

She told gardaí­: “I can’t say why I didn’t ring an ambulance. I‘ll never forgive myself for not doing it”.

She said she suspected he had caused the injuries to Ms Murray because of his violent history and said she was in fear of him, adding: “There’s something wrong with Paul. He punched me and threatened me with a knife. He told me he’d slit my throat”.

She told gardaí that when her son asked her and her husband to take him to the airport she was hesitant because she feared being “an accessory”.

“Paul kept saying well I wasn’t charged with anything, I’m a free man. I have to get out of the country or else I’ve to come back to your house,” she told gardaí­. She said she told him he wasn’t coming back to her house.

Bernard Condon SC, defending, said that his client was in fear and that her son was a free man and free to leave the country. He said there was no evidence that it was certain he would be charged.