Brothers jailed for 'savage' knife attack on father and son

Two brothers who stabbed a father and son during the course of a burglary in what a judge described as “having no legitimate excuse or motivation” were sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Adam Duffy received three stab wounds during the attack, including a penetrating wound to his liver and kidney, which resulted in him losing his right kidney. His father, John Duffy Senior, received a stab wound to his left arm.

Wayne (aged 31) and Martin (aged 19) Wilson of Brookview Walk, Tallaght in Dublin 24 both pleaded guilty to breaking into Mr Duffy Senior's house at Brookview Drive in Tallaght on April 4, 2009.

They also pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to both men on the same date.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Wayne Wilson to five years in prison and sentenced Martin Wilson to four years for the offences.

Garda John Stack told Mr Sean Guerin BL, prosecuting that in the early hours of that morning Adam Duffy heard banging at the front door.

He went downstairs and recognised the two men, Wayne and Martin Wilson, as he had been a former friend of Wayne.

The Wilson brothers forced their way into the home armed with knives and when Adam grabbed a golf club to defend himself, he was stabbed three times by Wayne.

Adam's father then came downstairs and grabbed a baseball bat when he saw the Wilson brothers and Adam fighting in the kitchen.

Gardaí were called to the house after a number of neighbours heard the commotion and one neighbour identified Martin Wilson as he had lived nearby.

A search of the Wilsons' home ensued by gardaí and a knife was recovered hidden in the hot press while a second knife was found under an armchair. Blood-stained clothing were also recovered from the house which matched the DNA profiling of Adam Duffy.

“The brothers did not make an effort to conceal themselves, their weapons nor the blood-stained clothing,” said Gda Stack.

Gda Stack agreed with Mr Gerry O'Brien SC, defending Martin, that both brothers had significant difficulties with drug abuse and appeared to have been on drugs and drink at the time of the offence.

“Adam Duffy and Martin Wilson used to be friends but this ended because of on-going difficulties between them,” explained Mr O'Brien.

Mr Michael P O'Higgins SC, defending Wayne, told the court that following the sudden death of his brother Jonathan through drugs, his life went off the rails.

“Wayne Wilson had a significant amount of drink and drugs in his system on the night of the offence and prior to the offence his brother Martin had received death threats which had upset him,” explained Mr O'Higgins.

Wayne Wilson took to the stand and offered an apology to his victims and took full responsibility for his actions.

“My brother Martin received a death threat and I reacted to that and I said they have to get me first,” said Wilson.

Wilson agreed with Mr O'Brien that he did not report the death threats to the gardaí and agreed that he never once said the injured party had made any death threats.

“No, I never gave the gardaí any names,” admitted Wilson.

Judge Nolan said the reasons for the break-in and assaults are not clear but that it was a “savage attack” resulting in one of the injured parties losing one of their kidneys.

“The culprits made no attempts to conceal what they had done and made no attempts to destroy evidence. They were both under the influence of intoxicants and returned to their own house were they were discovered by gardaí later,” he said.

“This is a savage crime and I am left in the dark as to the cause of it but they must have had some grievances and were on drink and drugs but there is no legitimate excuse to their actions,” said Judge Nolan.