Woman doing handstands before stabbing at Cork party

A man was nearly killed when he was stabbed in a row that erupted out of a house party that had been so convivial moments earlier that a woman had been doing handstands.

Mark Sheehan, aged 33, of 64 Hazel Rd, Togher, Cork, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing serious harm to Brian Coade at Croaghtamore Square, Glasheen Rd, Cork, on September 14 last year.

Sheehan was given a five-year jail term, with the last two years suspended, by Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said: “He nearly killed this man.”

He added that although the medical report did not go so far as to call them life-threatening injuries, they clearly were.

Detective Garda Gordon Crowley testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that a knife was used to stab the injured party three times.

Mr Coade had gone back to a house for a party with a number of others. Det Crowley said there was a very cordial atmosphere, so much so that one woman at the party wearing pyjama pants began doing handstands.

Det Crowley said it was alleged someone had tugged at her pants, pulling them down and following this a number of males were asked to leave. None of the witnesses present blamed Mr Coade for this alleged tugging at the woman’s pants.

Det Crowley said the injured party was very reluctant to go away from the scene as he wanted to make it clear that it had nothing to do with him and was adamant he had no part in any such incident. He kept knocking at the door but no one would answer it. Eventually he broke a window, the detective said.

Mark Sheehan had been asleep in the house when he heard the commotion and attacked Mr Coade, stabbing him three times.

The mitigating factors outlined by Elizabeth O’Connell, defending, were the plea of guilty, co-operation with gardaí, payment of €5,000 genuine remorse, and the defendant’s own family circumstances and commitments.