'I would have been left to die' - Victim stabbed 50 times by ex speaks as he's jailed

A young man who left his ex-girlfriend with lifelong injuries after he tried to murder her by stabbing her 50 times has been jailed for 14 years and warned not to contact the victim.

Sentencing Josh O'Brien (22) on Monday Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring described the violence he used on 21-year-old Niamh Kelly as "breathtaking". Her survival was "nothing short of a miracle", the judge said, but she now lives a "totally different life" and will face limitations and challenges nobody should have to endure.

Ms Justice Ring added: "All of this was avoidable. All of it flows from the actions of Josh O'Brien. At the time of the attack, Ms Kelly had gone to get ready for a concert the following day. She never made it to that concert and those carefree days are gone too."

However well she rehabilitates, Ms Justice Ring said the victim's "clock will only go forward and what she has lost will never be returned... she is confined to her new circumstances for the rest of her life."

While noting that O'Brien has no previous convictions, the judge said she is conscious of "significant violence to partners and ex-partners by persons without a criminal background."

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O'Brien, she said, has a history of mental health issues but he did not look for or follow a mental health regime prior to the assault.

Relationships, the judge said, "should be based on love, respect and trust, not manipulation, abuse and violence." Women are predominantly the victims, she said, and lives are often lost or, as in this case, profoundly changed.

Having regard to the level of violence used, the fact that O'Brien stabbed his victim with a knife he had been carrying for some time and that the victim suffered life-altering, permanent injuries, she set a headline sentence of 19 years.

After considering O'Brien's immediate admission to gardai, his early guilty plea, his lack of previous convictions, his age and his mental health background, she reduced the sentence to 15 years and six months with the final 18 months suspended.

O'Brien must keep all appropriate appointments with the probation services following his release and must not contact Ms Kelly for five years either directly or via Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok or any other form of electronic messaging, the judge warned.

Ms Justice Ring wished the victim well in her ongoing recovery from the many injuries she suffered.

O’Brien, of Walkinstown Avenue, Crumlin, Dublin 12, pleaded guilty earlier this year to the attempted murder of Ms Kelly at Firhouse Road, Firhouse, Dublin 24 on September 19, 2024.

Outside court Ms Kelly told media that she had hoped for a heavier sentence but was happy that O'Brien is "not walking away and getting away with anything he's done to me". She said she respects the judge's decision.

She said she continues to require physiotherapy to help strengthen her leg and requires a wheelchair when going long distances. However, she feels grateful that she has the opportunity "to stand here" and wants to get stronger for her son.

Previous Evidence

At a previous hearing, Detective Garda John Dalton told the court that the attack lasted up to six minutes and a piece of the knife O’Brien remains lodged in Ms Kelly’s skull. She spent seven months in hospital recovering from her injuries and is still undergoing therapy. She is blind in one eye.

Det Gda Dalton told prosecutor Vincent Heneghan SC that O’Brien and Ms Kelly had been in a relationship for over a year and had a baby boy together.

He said that in the summer of 2023, the relationship “got rocky”, with O’Brien on one occasion calling Ms Kelly names on Snapchat, saying she would be “a terrible mother” and calling her “a c*nt, a slag, a slut”.

Two months before the attack, O’Brien got angry and again called her names, before pushing her onto a bed and threatening to kill her.

Det Dalton said that on September 19, O’Brien and Ms Kelly were walking towards where Ms Kelly lived, when O'Brien told her he wanted to get back together.

Det Dalton said that O’Brien started punching Ms Kelly to the face and kicking at her, before he pushed her to the ground, took out a knife and stabbed her repeatedly.

Ms Kelly described it as “a flicky blade” and said she was shouting at him to stop while he was stabbing her. O’Brien stabbed the victim in the torso and back, while she also suffered injuries around her head.

O’Brien stood on Ms Kelly’s head, with the attack continuing for five to six minutes before nearby security personnel tried to stop O’Brien and he ran away.

Ms Kelly suffered over 50 stab wounds throughout her entire body.

Det Dalton said that during garda interview, O’Brien said Ms Kelly was turning her back on him, so he felt betrayed. He told gardaí he was hearing voices saying, “don’t take that disrespect”, and he had four drinks on the day of the attack.

“I didn’t intend to kill her, I was just listening to the voices... I didn’t want to kill her; if I really wanted to kill her, I would have continued,” O’Brien told gardaí.

Det Dalton also said that O’Brien was found with a shaving razor on his person when arrested, with the defendant telling gardaí that he had “Googled shaving her head”. Det Dalton explained that this referred to an incident that was reported in the media about someone who shaved a woman’s head “so the girl wouldn’t be attractive to other people”.

A medical report on Ms Kelly, read out by Mr Heneghan, indicated that she experienced extensive and long-term injuries. She suffered stab wounds all over her body, multiple broken bones in her skull, bleeding on the surface of her brain and a stab wound to one eye, which caused the eyeball to rupture, resulting in permanent damage.

She had multiple broken bones in her face, a broken bone in her neck, a lung injury that required draining, a wound to her liver and a cut through part of her spinal cord that caused paralysis in her left leg. She also experienced damage to her hands, which required intensive therapy to regain normal movement.

The medical report concluded that without medical care, Ms Kelly would have died. The loss of her sight is permanent and, while she can walk short distances, she requires the use of a wheelchair for long distances.

In her victim impact statement to the court, Ms Kelly said that her life “changed forever both physically and mentally” after being stabbed over 50 times.

“I was defenceless....Only for an off-duty paramedic, I would have been left to die,” she said.

She told the court that she has struggled to sleep since then, so she was put on medication to help her sleep, but she still gets flashbacks.

"When I woke up in hospital after the incident and was told about all my injuries, I didn’t want to believe it. All the things I wanted to do with my life are gone. I cried and cried, believing my life was over,” she said.

“As a 21-year-old, I feel that my future has been destroyed.”