Man gets nine years for bid to murder partner

A 63-year-old man who tried to murder his partner by repeatedly stabbing her after she told him she no longer wanted to be with him and planned to leave, has been jailed for nine years.

Patrick O’Rourke, of Cooline Drive, Ballyvoloon, Cobh, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Donna Foster at Cooline Drive on August 11, 2015. He also pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to a minor at the same address on the same date.

Yesterday at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed a nine-year sentence on O’Rourke and backdated it to when he went into custody on August 11, 2015. He also sentenced O’Rourke to three and a half years for the charge of assault causing harm on the minor, to run concurrently.