A woman has admitted stabbing a male friend with a plastic knife so he would not be sent to jail.
The woman was spared jail after she admitted stabbing her friend in the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin so he wouldn’t have to appear in court, where he was expecting a jail sentence.
The man asked Rose Maughan (32) to stab him before he was due to go before a judge that day. He later claimed to gardaí that he was attacked by three men near the courts.
However CCTV footage clearly showed Maughan stabbing him in the smoking area of the courts with a plastic knife taken from the canteen.
'Easily led' Maughan's defence counsel said she was "easily led" and was promised money and drugs in return for stabbing the man.
Yesterday she was given a 12-month sentence by Judge Mary Ellen Ring which was suspended on condition she engaged with the Probation Service.
Maughan, of Mount Brown, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of a knife at the courts building on Parkgate Street on January 13th, 2011.
Karl Finnegan, prosecuting, told the court that Maughan’s friend was before the courts that morning and had asked his girlfriend to stab him in the leg so he could avoid appearing in court.
Failed attempt However the girlfriend was unable to break the skin with the knife and they asked Maughan to try. She succeeded in stabbing the man and he was taken to the Mater hospital.
The man later made a complaint to gardaí that he had been attacked by three men on Parkgate Street.
When gardaí viewed CCTV footage they saw Maughan stabbing the supposed victim as he made no effort to stop her. Afterwards she could be seen trying to stop the bleeding with her coat.
The man was later prosecuted for making a false complaint and also received a prison sentence for the original matter he was in court for.
Defence counsel Leo Mulrooney said his client was pestered into stabbing the man. He said the Probation Service viewed her as a woman keen to please others and that was her motivation on this occasion.
He said she was homeless for a period and using heroin but was now trying to address these issues.