The daughter of a woman who was attacked by her nephew in Co Monaghan has said her mother was beaten "so violently" that she did not recognise her.
Angela Cunningham was left with permanent and life-altering brain injuries after the attack at her home in Cloughvalley, Carrickmacross, on 22 April 2023.
Nyal Tumelty, 30, of Coolderry, Inniskeen in Co Monaghan, pleaded guilty to assault causing serious harm to his aunt. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with the final two years suspended.
He was on bail at the time for assault causing harm and the false imprisonment of a woman in Carlingford, Co Louth.
Angela Cunningham's daughter Louise Cunningham said that while she was relieved the case is now over, she felt "a little bit deflated" from the whole process.
Speaking to RTÉ's Today with David McCullagh, she described her mother as a "kind, caring and quiet" woman who was a "great mother and grandmother" and loved spending time with her family.
She said Angela had arrived home from a holiday a few days before the attack and had said she would visit her son, Louise's brother, to give souvenirs to her grandchildren.
The alarm was raised when she did not visit.
"My aunt said that she would call around to the house ... my auntie's husband got to the front door and he could see that it was not properly closed, so he made his way into the house and she was found on the floor of her kitchen in a horrific state," Ms Cunningham said.
"She was there for approximately 27 hours in the condition that she was in. For all that time, alone."
'I didn't believe it was her'
Ms Cunningham said seeing her mother in the hospital was a "traumatic experience" and she did not recognise her due to the extent of her injuries.
She said it was only when a nurse gave her a bag containing her mother's jewellery that she accepted it was her.
"When I saw her I initially thought that we were brought into the wrong room. I did not recognise her at all," she said.
"Her entire head was so violently beaten that she was completely unrecognisable. I didn't believe it was her," she said.
Ms Cunningham said she could tell from the bruises and scratch marks that her mother had tried to defend herself.
She said her mother spent the next six months "slowly coming out of a coma" and they were waiting every day for a call to say she had not made it.
"At the moment she's in a residential care setting in Meath and she requires around the clock care ... she can't walk, she's in a wheelchair ... she doesn't understand, she can't process information," she said.
"Sometimes if you visit she might recognise you, other times she won't. It's really just about keeping her as comfortable as possible.
"We're kind of getting used to seeing her as she is now, which is very sad because we have so many lovely memories of her. She was such a great mother and now it's quite difficult visiting her in the condition that she's in.
"You have to build yourself up mentally before going in to see her because a lot of the time you don't know what way she's going to be - if she's going to be very agitated or if she's going to be sedated.
"It's hard seeing her in the condition that she's been left in."
'Her life has been sacrificed'
Ms Cunningham said they found the day after her mother had been admitted to the hospital that the attacker was Nyal Tumelty.
She said Tumelty was several years younger than her and she did not know him very well, adding that he was "quiet and shy" and she would not have suspected he was dangerous.
She said Tumelty had said he could not explain why he attacked his aunt, but it had come up in October's court case that he had been mixing alcohol and cocaine at the time.
"She would have tried to help him, she probably felt sorry for him ... her life has been sacrificed because of that," she said.
Ms Cunningham said they were "very disappointed" with Tumelty's sentence of 12 years in prison with the final two suspended.
She said her mother's barrister had said that given the severity of the attack and all the evidence collected, the sentencing should be "on the upper end of 15 years".
Tumelty's barrister had responded that he "couldn't argue with that", she added.
"When it came to sentencing, the judge started off with 15 years and he started knocking time off from there," she said.
The case has "impacted family relationships" and has "not been easy on anybody", she said, adding that the fact that her mother's attacker was a relative was "a hard pill to swallow".
Tumelty was on bail at the time of Angela Cunningham's attack, for assault causing harm and the false imprisonment of a woman in Carlingford, Co Louth.
Ms Cunningham said if he had not been out on bail, she would still have her mother "as she was".
"She would still be around, her life would still be as it was. She had so many things to look forward to in life and they were all just robbed from her because he did what he did while he was out on bail," she said.
"She has no quality of life. It's just making her as comfortable as possible for the remainder of her time."
