A man has been jailed for three and a half years for attacking and trying to suffocate his partner's elderly mother at a nursing home earlier this year.
Peter Keaney, 55, with an address at Hillside Close, Monksland, Athlone, Co Roscommon, had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and attempting to suffocate the woman at Sonas Nursing Home in Athlone last April.
Mullingar Circuit Court heard how Keaney had been drinking heavily on the day of the attack. He consumed four bottles of wine and arrived at the nursing home at around 8pm on the evening of 29 April.
The court heard the 85-year-old woman was attacked as she went to greet Peter Keaney with a hug but Keaney hit the woman in the face with his fist and kept hitting her.
He then punched her onto a chair at the side of her bed, telling her "you will live to regret it" before putting a pillow over her face.
The court heard the woman slipped to the ground, where Keaney repeatedly kicked her in the head.
Care workers outside heard screaming and Keaney shouted at the woman to die.
Staff forced their way through the blocked door and saw the woman lying face down on the floor.
She had suffered multiple injuries and there were pools of blood on the floor.
The court heard Keaney then walked over to the bed, sat on it and waited until gardaí arrived and arrested him.
"I did it, I tried to kill her," he told gardaí at the scene.
The court heard the victim needed nine stitches to her head and had bruises and a sore back from being knelt on as she struggled with the pillow on her face, which the pensioner described as "horrible".
She did not come to the hearing or provide a victim impact statement.
Mullingar Circuit Court heard that en route to Athlone Garda Station, Keaney told gardaí he wanted to kill the woman.
Detective Garda Kevin Nerney told the court that Keaney also told detectives that he had suffered sexual abuse as a child and had gone to counselling for eight years.
The court heard that Keaney said he was motivated to carry out the attack by a mistaken belief that his partner's mother had facilitated the abuse of his partner.
The court also heard the victim and her husband had enjoyed a close relationship for years with Keaney.
In 2005, the accused and his partner moved from Galway to Athlone to help care for them after her father was seriously injured in an accident and had to learn how to walk and talk again.
Addressing Mullingar Circuit Court, Keaney said what had happened was an "awful, awful act" which he could not explain or rationalise.
He told the court he was not a violent person and had never been violent before that day.
Judge Keenan Johnson described it as an extraordinary and shocking case and Keaney was "like a man possessed on the day in question".
At the sentencing hearing, he said it was a tragedy for all the family, and it was clear that there was great affection between Keaney and the woman, and they both enjoyed a good relationship prior to the incident.
He said he found it hard to get his head around it and it was clear Keaney had a distorted thinking pattern at the time.
Judge Keenan Johnson said violence has no place in a care home and clearly the victim, her family and staff at the care centre were traumatised by what happened.
He also said the accused travelled over 6km to the care home to carry out the assault which showed that it was not spontaneous.
However, the judge said he was taking into account Keaney's early guilty plea and his full admissions to gardaí after the assault.
He said Keaney had suffered adversely as a result of sexual abuse at the age of eight years old and acknowledged his alcohol abuse and his distorted pattern of thinking at the time.
Keaney has no previous convictions.
Judge Keenan Johnson said it was a tragic case and commended the victim and said he hoped she could put the dreadful episode in the past.
He also paid tribute to Keaney's partner who was stuck between "a rock and a hard place" and said it was clear the family were inherently decent people who were catastrophically affected by the actions of Keaney.
Judge Keenan Johnson also commended the care staff at the nursing home for their speedy action after the assault.
He sentenced Keaney to four and a half years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended.
