Victim left with ‘physical and emotional scars’

The victim of an attempted murder said she was left with physical, emotional and psychological scars by the “continuous, vicious and frenzied attack” by her former partner after she told him she planned to leave.

Donna Foster gave a victim impact statement yesterday, nine days after her former partner Patrick O’Rourke, 63, pleaded guilty to her attempted murder at their home in Cooline Drive, Ballyvoloon, Cobh, Co Cork, on August 11, 2015.

O’Rourke also pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to a minor at the same location on the same date. At a hearing yesterday at the Central Criminal Court Justice Patrick McCarthy heard evidence and adjourned sentencing until next Friday.