A man with 132 previous convictions who stabbed his brother-in-law with a glass in the neck while he slept in his bed with his wife and baby has walked free from court.
John Ward, 33, appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court charged with stabbing Patrick Mongan after the pair had been drinking together.
Ward had arrived at Mongan’s house in Letterkenny on October 13th, 2013 after the pair had ben drinking the previous day.
They continued drinking at MOngan’s home and Mongan eventually went to bed.
However, the victim told Gardai that Ward came upstairs and began slashing him while he slept in bed with his wife and child.
He stumbled into the bathroom but revealed told Gardai “John was still slicing away at me.”
Garda Darren Carter told the court that he arrived at the house and found a bloody scene with a lot of blood between and bathroom and bedroom of Mongan’s home.
In his victim impact statement, Mongan said he had been scarred for life and still had numbness in his hand.
He also revealed how his son was now terrified if seeing blood and became frightened when he heard his Uncle John’s name being mentioned.
Barrister for the accused, Mr Peter Nolan, said his client was now a different man and was making great strides in turning his life around.
He said he had appeared at Monaghan Circuit Court in 2016 accused of assault on his wife.
However, Judge John O’Hagan had imposed a suspended sentence on him saying he believed Ward was making efforts to change his life.
Ward told Letterkenny Circuit Court that he had been off alcohol since January of this year, had not returned to Letterkenny and had not seen Mr Mongan or his sister.
“I have changed my life around. I’m ashamed and I’m very, very sorry,” he said.
He told the court he now lives in Tuam in Co Galway and had no plans to return to Co Donegal.
His barrister said his client had been the victim of domestic violence and that he had taken to drink when he was just 14 years old.
Passing sentence Judge Terence O’Sullivan said he would normally apply a custodial sentence for an incident where a blade or similar implement is involved.
He said this particular incident deserved a sentence of three and a half years as it was on the higher end of assault causing harm scale.
However, he referred to the previous case as handled by Judge John O’Hagan.
“He (Judge O’Hagan) is a man I would respect and a person with a large degree of experience,” he said.
In doing so he sentenced Ward, of 22 Country Meadows, Tuam, to three years in prison but suspended the sentence for three years.