Two men who caused “life changing injuries” to a 93 year old woman in a broad daylight attack six months ago have been jailed for nine years by Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Damian Long (32) and Damien Fitzgerald (35) attacked the woman after she had visited St. Luke’s post office in Cork city to collect her pension on the 9th of November stealing her handbag.
The woman’s stolen handbag contained €588, a Galaxy mobile phone, a purse, a Revolut card, a PTSB card, a driving licence, a public services card, and her house keys.
The court was told that the attack – which took place around 4:30pm -caused “multiple fractures to her pelvis” and has left the elderly woman “in constant pain” since the incident.
Cork Beo reported that one of the attackers, Damien Long was serving a suspended sentence at the time of the attack which Judge Helen Boyle described as a “scarcely comprehensible act of thuggery in broad daylight,”
Although Long was described as playing a lesser role in the attack in which the woman was pulled to the ground by Fitzgerald, both men have 313 previous convictions between them.
Such was the extent of her injury the victim said she was rendered a “prisoner” in her own home “for many months” and left her utterly reliant on family members to move her from bed to bathroom to chair.
She has only recently regained her ability to to leave her home but is reliant on the aid of a rollator in order to walk.
The court heard that at the time of the attack passersby heard the elderly woman screaming for help with one man intervening to try and stop the assailants who made their escape and were arrested three days later on the 12th of November.
Both men were charged with the assault on the 14th of November and have been remanded in custody since.
Defence counsel for the attackers argued that both had issues with substance abuse with defence counsel for Damien Long stating that he had had a troubled upbringing.
At the sentencing the victim thanked members of An Garda Síochána and her legal team for their assistance.
She said that due to the covid pandemic she was unable to enjoy her life for a long period of time and was just regaining her ability to do so when the attack took place.
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