A MAN who left a young journalist fighting for her life after stabbing her in the neck during an attempted robbery has had his prison sentence increased from seven to 10 years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The attack by Leszek Jarosz (22), from Poland, on journalist Maireád O'Dwyer, was "extraordinarily savage", the three-judge appeal court said.
Jarosz, The Mills, Weavers Square, the Coombe, Dublin, pleaded guilty earlier this year before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to causing serious harm to Ms O'Dwyer and attempting to rob her in the Coombe on May 19th, 2007. He also admitted robbing José Gonzalez and Luka Martinacon on the same night and was jailed for seven years by Judge Patrick McCartan.
The DPP appealed the sentence on grounds that it was unduly lenient. Fergal Foley, for the DPP, told the court yesterday that Judge McCartan had erred in setting 10 years as the starting point for the sentence before taking mitigating factors into account.
A starting point of 10 years for an offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment was "too low given the sheer level of violence involved", Mr Foley said. After stabbing Ms O'Dwyer, Jarosz had returned home and changed his bloodstained clothes before returning to the street, brandishing a knife at Mr Martinacon and Mr Gonzalez and demanding cash, he added.
Opposing the appeal, Erwan Mill-Arden SC, for Jarosz, said that it should be left undisturbed. He said Jarosz had pleaded guilty at an early stage and had claimed he stabbed Ms O'Dwyer after he panicked. His client's intention that night, having consumed alcohol and drugs, was to create fear and take money.
The court, with Ms Justice Fidelma Macken presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Liam McKechnie and Ms Justice Mary Irvine, ruled that the seven-year sentence was unduly lenient.
Ms Justice Macken described the attack on Ms O'Dwyer as "extraordinarily savage". These were "words that the court rarely uses", she added.
The court said Ms O'Dwyer, a researcher on the Newstalk programme Moncrieff, was walking home from a work function about 2.50am when she was confronted by Jarosz wielding a knife and was stabbed in the neck. She tried to get assistance and was helped by a man who found her collapsed.
She remained in hospital for a number of weeks. The knife passed through her neck, injuring her larynx and tearing her throat. Part of a vein was taken from her leg to repair the neck wounds. She was on a feeding tube and ventilator for some time.
Only for Ms O'Dwyer's ingenuity, "things could have been much worse", the judge said. When all the factors were taken into consideration, the court believed a sentence of between 13 and 14 years was merited. Taking the mitigating factors into account, a sentence of 13 years, with the last three suspended, was appropriate.