A 24-year-old man has been jailed for 15 years for trying to suffocate his pregnant girlfriend and strangle her three-year-old child.
Sean Walsh of 23 O'Loughlin Court, Kilkenny, originally from the UK, was sentenced at Kilkenny Circuit Court today.
He had pleaded guilty to attempting to suffocate Georgette O'Carroll as she slept and to endangering the life of her three year old daughter on November 9, 2004.
The court heard that Ms Georgette O'Carroll was in a relationship with Walsh at the time and was expecting a child with him. On the night previous to the attack the couple had watched a film called The Grudgein which a husband strangles his wife.
The following morning she woke up to find herself being suffocated by Walsh.
Ms O'Carroll managed to escape from her attacker and discovered three-year-old daughter in the bathroom with pink trousers around her neck.
At the time Ms O'Carroll believed that her daughter was dead. There was also a fracture to her daughter's left elbow and bite marks to her body.
Judge Olive Buttimer sentenced Walsh to 10 years for attacking his girlfriend, and a further five years for attacking the child.