Man stabbed friend 40 times after day of drink

TWO friends spent the day drinking together but it ended in extreme violence when one man stabbed the other 40 times.

Detective Garda Donal Casey found the attacker, Anthony O’Riordan, aged 25, of 5 Douglas Village West, Douglas, Cork, covered in blood at the scene.

Det Casey found up to five knives on the floor close to where the victim, James O’Sullivan, was lying on September 12, 2010, at a flat in Heritage House, Cathedral Road, Gurranabraher, Cork. Some of the knives used in the attack were broken. O’Riordan had sustained no injuries.

Judge Patrick J Moran yesterday imposed a six-year sentence on O’Riordan with the last two years suspended.

“This was a savage attack where the injured party sustained somewhere in the region of 40 penetrating wounds. He must say to himself every now and again that he is thankful to be alive. And you (O’Riordan) should be thankful you are not facing a murder charge,” Judge Moran said.

The injured party’s stab wounds were sustained all over his body. His arms bore evidence of defensive stab wounds. “You had a shocking combination of alcohol and drugs. That does not give anyone the right to attack someone the way you did. This is one of the most serious stabbing cases I have had to deal with,” the judge said.

Det Casey said the two friends had been drinking together on the street and returned to the defendant’s house where the defendant’s partner told him she did not want Mr O’Sullivan in their home because of the drinking. She went out and returned a few minutes later to the scene of the assault and she immediately contacted gardaí.

Marjorie Farrelly, defending, said that while the defendant had a chaotic background, violence had not featured and she described the attack as a grotesque aberration, not in line with his normal behaviour.