A mother of four was given a suspended jail sentence yesterday for her part in a serious assault on a 15-year-old boy who was held captive in her flat for over two hours.
Suzanne Murphy (32) pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to common assault causing actual bodily harm to the youth at Ardbhaile, Mayfield, Cork, on June 18th, 1996. She was one of three people involved in the assault. Two youths, both minors, have already pleaded guilty to assaulting the boy causing him actual bodily harm and falsely imprisoning him.
The boy told the court how the two youths burnt him with cigarettes and burnt his ear with a lighter after one of them whom he knew brought him to Ms Murphy's flat. He had tried to leave but they prevented him and then began to assault him, asking him if he was gay and writing "faggot" and "bent" on his forehead.
The boy said one of the youths produced a knife and held it to the side of his head, threatening to cut off his left ear. The youths also accused him of molesting his sister, which he denied, but they began kicking him around the face, head and chest.
He said Ms Murphy had joined the youths in kicking him. He eventually agreed that he had molested his sister simply to get them to stop kicking him. They finally released him when another man arrived at the flat and asked what was happening. They told the man that they had found the boy beaten up and had brought him home to clean him up.
The two youths brought him to a nearby school where they beat him up again before releasing him. He made his way home and told his parents about the assault. He was taken to the Mercy Hospital where he was treated for burns and severe bruising to his face.
Yesterday the boy's mother told the court that he still suffered from panic attacks and woke up at night screaming. He was very upset about the accusations of molestation and being called gay but he was receiving counselling. They had since moved house.
Ms Murphy's barrister, Mr Blaise O'Carroll, said Ms Murphy had a number of problems at the time and did not feel she was strong enough to intervene and stop the youths. Gardai had accepted that the two youths were the main protagonists and, as a mother herself, she deeply regretted not trying to stop the assault.
Judge Patrick Moran described the assault as a "terrifying and appalling" experience for the boy. However, Ms Murphy had saved the State by pleading guilty. She was the mother of seven-month-old twins and two other children and he was taking this into account in sentencing her to 12 months in jail but suspending it on condition she keep the peace.