Men who gave a grandmother a "punsihment beating" in Dundalk appeal their convictions

A statement made by a grandmother who lost her eye in a “punishment beating” after being struck with a claw hammer should not have gone before a jury, as the victim was in hospital and was “in and out of consciousness” when speaking with gardai, the Court of Appeal has heard.

“The complainant was virtually asleep during the reading back of her statement,” said Roderick O’Hanlon SC, barrister for Gerard Stokes (44), who along with co-accused Samantha Cambell (36) was convicted of carrying out the attack on the woman over an alleged missing drugs package.

Following a three-week trial in February last year, Stokes and Campbell, both with an address at Muirhevnamór, Dundalk, were convicted by a jury of seriously assaulting the woman at Stokes’ home, falsely imprisoning her, assaulting her friend causing harm, and aggravated burglary at that victim’s home in Waterville Crescent on December 5, 2018.

Stokes received a 13-and-a-half-year sentence, with two years suspended, for seriously assaulting the victim, who lost an eye in the attack and now uses a prosthesis.

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Campbell got a 12-year term on a similar charge, with two years suspended.

Passing sentence at Dundalk Circuit Court, Judge Dara Hayes said that what occurred was effectively a “punishment beating’” over alleged missing drugs.

The court heard how Gerard Stokes had demanded that the woman, who was in her 50s and used to babysit for the defendants, go to his house for questioning about a missing package. There, he threatened her with "severe consequences".

Campbell punched her in the face and pulled her hair.

Stokes told the victim to turn off her phone, before he took it from her and ordered her to stand on bin liners on the kitchen floor and started punching her in the face.

He then picked up a claw hammer and said it was time to finish her off. He told her to stand into a black bin bag and gave her ‘five whacks with the hammer’.

Stokes said he was going to kill her. He told the woman to turn around. He hit her twice in the right eye with the hammer and she fell to the ground. He pulled the draw-cord of the bin bag, and she blacked out. Then, to save herself, she said that the package was at a friend’s house.

Stokes and Campbell put her in a car and drove to this person’s house, having told another individual to burn a bag containing the hammer, the victim’s phone, and other evidence.

Both defendants assaulted the second woman but fled the scene after gardai arrived.

In launching a conviction appeal yesterday, Thursday November 21st, Mr O’Hanlon said that the complainant was admitted to hospital, before gardaí arrived and sought permission to take her statement.

A doctor refused as she was not fit to make a statement, so the gardaí returned the next day and spoke to a nurse, with the gardaí saying they were entitled to take the statement at 9pm.

Mr O’Hanlon said that this statement was taken over four hours and, while there was video equipment available, gardaí did not use it to record the encounter.

“The complainant was virtually asleep during the reading back of her statement,” said Mr O’Hanlon, adding that no evidence from the nurse was given during the trial, nor was there any evidence given that the witness was in a position to give a statement. He said that it seemed that morphine was still being administered to her at the time.

He said that after permission was previously refused for the gardaí to interview the victim, no evidence was presented at the trial to address the opinion of the medical expert treating her. He said that the night nurse who told the gardaí that they could take the statement was not named.

Mr O’Hanlon went on to say that a solicitor later wrote a letter to the gardaí on the woman’s behalf, saying that she wished to withdraw her statement due to memory loss and psychiatric problems. The statement was subsequently admitted into evidence following a voir dire. Mr O’Hanlon said that during this voir dire, the woman was asked about falling asleep when her interview was being read back to her in hospital, and she acknowledged that this had happened.

Counsel said that there was a danger in allowing the matter to go to the jury, as the woman’s statement appeared coherent and reliable, but it could not be tested by the defence. He said that appropriate evidence should have been given during the trial by the doctor who treated her, as to when she was fit to make the statement.

“She was in and out of consciousness at the time, so the signing of the statement is of a very dubious quality,” said Mr O’Hanlon.

He said that the taking of a four-hour statement may be permitted for a fully fit witness, but if the prosecution wanted to rely on that type of statement, the medical evidence in support of that should be present.

Defence for Campbell was Kevin McCrave BL, who said that the submissions made by Mr O’Hanlon were also relevant to his client.

Counsel for the State, Timothy O’Leary SC said that a substantial voir dire took place concerning the admissibility of the statement, during which the trial judge had the benefit of looking at a video recording. He said that the circumstances of the incident were so serious, with the woman having lost an eye in the attack, that gardaí were trying to progress the case.

In response, Mr O’Hanlon said that the best evidence before the trial was video evidence of a garda reading the victim’s statement back to her, which was “evidence that the garda can read, not evidence of what she said”.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said that the court would reserve judgement in the matter.