Court hears of 'real romance' before Ukrainian war veteran tried to kill his partner in Kerry

Barrister for man who pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his former partner says it was 'unfortunate and grim'

Viktoriia Pavlenko leaving court on February 9. In her victim impact statement last month, she stated: 'At first everything was good, we planned our future life together. But then he turned out to be very jealous.' Picture: Collins Courts

It is "grim" that a Ukrainian war veteran who once had a "real romance" with his partner tried to murder her by stabbing her 15 times after developing an "unshakeable" belief that she was being unfaithful to him, his barrister has told the Central Criminal Court.

Last month, Ukrainian refugee Viktoriia Pavlenko described how she woke to find her "jealous" ex-partner Hryhorii Sryotenko pinning her down and demanding to be told "the truth" about her "lover" before trying to murder her.