Last week as I was scrolling on X, I came across a headline from the Sunday World that read ‘Refugee who stabbed ex three times after dispute about dinner jailed for 21 months.’
Reading the details of the case reported by journalist Eimear Dodd, it became clear that the man in question – a Congolese refugee by the name of Moise Muhula (54) – had stabbed his ex partner at least three times in the shoulder as well as leaving her with head injuries.
This sounds like attempted murder to me and, as violence against women goes, the details of the case suggest it was on the serious end of the scale.
To stab anyone any number of times anywhere is obviously an act that can cause their death through blood loss among other things.
What this writer feels is striking about the case of Muhula is the leniency of his sentence which was handed down last week – over 6 years after the incident.
So how does someone who deliberately repeatedly stabs a woman get a mere 21 months of a prison sentence?
Eimear Dodd wrote:
“An investigating garda told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, yesterday that the injured party was in a relationship with Muhula at the time. He came to her home at 7.30pm on the day in question. Muhula asked her about dinner and she told him to go home if he wanted dinner.”
“He became aggressive and started shouting. He got a knife from the kitchen and went into the sitting room, where she was watching TV. He told her “you will see now” before saying he would kill her and “go to prison for you”.”
“He then stabbed the victim at least three times in the shoulder and punched her several times. He took her upstairs, where she went to the bathroom as there was a lot of blood.”
The victim was treated for stab wounds and a head injury.
Now, I know what it’s like to be ‘hangry’ but if I flew into a rage and repeatedly stabbed someone I would expect to be locked up for a very long time, as I would deserve to be.
Not so Mr. Muhula who also, as you will have noticed, verbally expressed a desire to “kill” the victim.
Another disturbing element to this is that it would seem that Muhula, who has an address at St. Mary’s Place, Dublin 1, was not in custody for a substantive period of the 6-years and 3-months that have elapsed since he stabbed the woman.
The report contains no details of his – already very short as we have seen – sentence being backdated with respect to time already served in jail as frequently happens after a suspect is remanded in custody before conviction and sentencing.
“Judge Martin Nolan said Muhula stabbed the victim, beat her and “pulled her around the house” following what was a dispute “at least in the eyes of” the defendant.”
“He said the use of a knife and the relationship between the parties were aggravating factors. Judge Nolan noted the mitigation included the guilty plea, Muhula’s lack of previous convictions, personal traumas, and the passage of time since this incident occurred.” Eimear Dodd wrote.
To think that a man who unleashed a violent tirade of abuse on a woman who seems to have been unable to defend herself – which is of course not unusual in male on female violence – got such a short sentence doesn’t leave one with the impression that serious assault of a female is being taken all that seriously in this case.
While a judge is obligated to take into consideration a defendant’s lack of previous convictions and guilty plea, I’m not sure how “personal trauma” can be used to excuse a vicious and potentially fatal assault.
Perhaps it is also not unreasonable to question Muhula’s apparent lack of previous convictions – while he undoubtedly has no previous convictions in Ireland – how can the state be sure that he had none before coming here?
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee in the past responded to queries about the verification processes in place for asylum seekers (would-be refugees) saying they had their their prints checked against EURODAC and that whilst EURODAC is not a criminal database “the underlying regulations permit law enforcement agencies” to use it for criminal investigations.
A Gript review of all available EURODAC reports, up to the end of 2022, did not contain a single record of the Guards having ever used EURODAC for criminal enquiries.
The details of this case raise a number of questions as to whether the government, and Minister McEntee in particular, is serious when they say they are dedicated to cracking down on violence against women.
And while your correspondent is not suggesting that those who have been granted refugee status are more likely to inflict violence on women, I feel there are serious questions left unanswered in regards to the possible criminal histories of those who come from jurisdictions where Irish and EU authorities ‘have no eyes’.
Nor am I convinced that someone’s supposed ‘history of trauma’ should count as a mitigating factor for a heinous act of violence like the one Mr. Muhula inflicted on his former partner.
When a slap on the wrist sentence like this is allowed to fly you have to ask yourself: Is the government really tough on violence against women?