Overview
- Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring set a 19-year headline term and imposed 15 years and six months with the final 18 months suspended after weighing an early guilty plea, admissions, age, lack of prior convictions and mental health history.
- Josh O’Brien, 22, is subject to post-release probation requirements and a five-year ban on contacting Niamh Kelly by any direct or electronic means.
- The September 2024 attack lasted up to six minutes as O’Brien punched and kicked Kelly before stabbing her more than 50 times, fleeing when security intervened.
- Kelly spent seven months in hospital with multiple skull and facial fractures, permanent damage to one eye and partial spinal cord injury causing paralysis in her left leg, and she continues rehabilitation.
- Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Kelly said she respected the sentence though she had hoped for longer and urged others to leave toxic relationships and seek support.