A man has been remanded in custody after a women told the court of an incident in which he stabbed her twice while chasing her with three different knives.
Cristal O'Brien described how one minute she was getting ready for a Christmas party and the next "running for her life" at the hands of her ex-partner of 18 years.
Ms O'Brien stated how the attack was "like a movie scene" she "did not sign up to", with the Central Criminal Court hearing that Philip Cox's threats to knife her "to pieces" will never leave her mind.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt noted that it will be "problematic" for Cox, 40, to return to his employment as a barman after he is sentenced due to his alcoholism.
The defendant had his attempted murder charge dropped last December after a second Central Criminal Court jury failed to reach a verdict.
The jury had deliberated over three days in the case of Cox, who is originally from Tallaght in Dublin but has an address at York Street Flats in Dublin 2.
He had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his former partner, Ms O'Brien, at the flat complex on 1 December 2022.
Cox had previously pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, aggravated burglary and to the production of a knife during the course of the dispute.
Another jury had failed to reach a verdict in the first trial in March 2024.
Mr Justice Hunt had noted last December the difficulty in proving an attempted murder charge given the high standard required.
The judge had said that a "very limited type of intention" had to be proved in such cases.
In order to return a guilty verdict, the jury were told they had to be satisfied that there was an attempt to kill and that there was an intention to kill.
A jury in a murder trial, however, only has to consider whether an accused intended to kill or cause serious injury.
In his interviews, Cox told gardaí that he never intended to kill Ms O'Brien.
'So violent and nasty'
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecution counsel, Ms O'Brien said: "After two trials I am still reliving everything that happened and trying to understand how you know someone for 18 years and one minute you're getting ready for a Christmas party and having a conversation with your ex-partner and the next running for my life - not once or twice but three times, trying not to get hit with a knife."
She added: "I thank God every day that Alice [McGrath] heard me bang on the door as I ran past.
"It could have been more lethal if she had not opened the door that night, it could have been a murder trial ... how someone you thought you knew for 18 years could be so violent and nasty."
Ms O'Brien said her ex-partner telling her "I will stab you to pieces" will never leave her mind.
She said she has suffered from severe anxiety, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder since the event, adding she had been on crutches for three weeks and could not drive for a few months due to the severe pain in her leg.
"I was put on antidepressants just to get on day to day. I was out of work for a whole year, living most of it on illness benefit alone," she added.
Ms O'Brien said she had ten weeks of counselling and may possibly need more, adding when she sees a black handled knife on a table, she has to leave the room "as it is a trigger".
"Who would have thought something like that could set off such panic," she said.
She said the "fear" of Cox being near her or their son again is "extremely daunting and worrying".
"Knowing I could not have been here to be a mother to my son breaks my heart every day," she said.
She thanked the gardaí and prosecution team for trying to get justice "in what can only be described as a movie scene I did not sign up to".
In a second statement, the victim's neighbour Alice McGrath said she was very scared when Cox broke into her home, and it was only when he had gone and she knew Ms O'Brien was safe that it "really hit" her.
Ms McGrath said she now always locks her door during the day and at night.
She said her anxiety can be very bad and there are days when she does not go to work, adding it is a horrible feeling to be nervous at one's own hall door.
'Could have been much worse'
Sergeant Chris Fitzgerald told prosecuting counsel Timothy O'Leary SC that Cox and Ms O'Brien had been living together in a flat at York Street for 18 years but had been separated for six months prior to this event.
He agreed the defendant would stay over in the flat around three nights a week for family reasons.
The witness also agreed an argument had "erupted" between the pair after which Cox retrieved a knife from a block of knives in the kitchen and began threatening Ms O'Brien.
In her evidence to the jury, Ms O’Brien said she banged on a neighbour’s door for help and then ran down a flight of stairs before Cox knocked her to the ground and tried to stab her.
She said that Cox kicked her twice in the face and must have hit the knife off the wall because it broke. She said he then told her he was going to get another knife.
She said her neighbour, Alice McGrath, brought her into her home but Cox broke in.
Ms O’Brien told the court her former partner stabbed her twice in the leg before the second knife also broke.
She said Cox told her he was going to "finish me off" before leaving the flat to retrieve another knife.
Ms McGrath gave evidence that when she heard a thump on her door, she went out and heard Mr Cox say: "I’m going to stab you".
The sergeant agreed with Mr O'Leary that at one stage Ms O'Brien had used her hands and legs to fend off blows from the knife.
He said Ms McGrath had come from behind, was pulling at Cox's top and trying to prevent him from attacking Ms O'Brien.
At one point, Mr Justice Hunt commented: "It could have been much worse and for all concerned: thank God it wasn't."
The sergeant said the three large knives were chopping knives and were sharp.
Mr O'Leary said this could have been a fatal matter but for the actions of Ms O'Brien and Ms McGrath.
"It could have ended up a murder trial," commented the judge.
The sergeant said Cox has no previous convictions and used to work as a barman in McNeill's Pub on Capel Street.
In his submissions to the court, Eoghan Cole SC, defending, said the aggravated burglary was not protracted and did not go on for more than a few minutes.
He acknowledged that, despite this, the incident would have been "terrifying" for the two women.
Mr Cole said Cox is ashamed of what he did but accepts his actions and wanted to express his remorse.
He said a sense of shame "percolates" through his psychological report, which was handed into the court.
Counsel said his client is an alcoholic, had abused alcohol very badly throughout his life and accepted he was "not there yet in terms of recovery".
Mr Justice Hunt said Cox resuming his former occupation as a barman will be problematic.
Cox was remanded in custody until 24 March, when he will be sentenced.
