Andrew Carey
A WOMAN who stood over the “seemingly lifeless body” of her brother’s girlfriend and repeatedly stabbed her in a frenzied attack has been jailed for five years.
At Limerick Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said that such was the “veracity of the frenzied attack”, carried out by Charlene Sherlock on her brother’s partner, it was “lucky the accused was not facing a charge of manslaughter or even murder,” he said.
Jailing the 23-year-old mother of one from Ennis, Judge Moran said that evidence of the attack captured on CCTV footage had been played at the hearing to which he said “words could not describe”.
Charlene Sherlock, the third from a family of 13, believed that her brother’s girlfriend was being unfaithful after he was taken into custody to serve a prison sentence.
The court heard that Ms Sherlock phoned 22-year-old Nicole Keane and arranged to meet her in Ennis. A number of brief altercations occurred but the pair went to the sheds at the back of a school playground at Holy Family primary school on Station Road and drank vodka.
It was there that Ms Keane remembers receiving two stab wounds to the back before collapsing.
However, Ms Sherlock was captured on CCTV leaning over her “persistently and continually inflict stab wound after stab wound to her seemingly lifeless body”.
22 stab wounds were inflicted by Ms Sherlock on Nicole Keane and so vicious was the attack captured on CCTV footage the accused appeared to pull Ms Keane’s hair so hard that a “chunk was ripped off” according to Judge Moran.
The clump of hair was later found in Ms Sherlock’s pocket.
The 23-year-old mother of one, who is separated from her baby, phoned her father to say “the young one is dead”.
Sherlock went to a nearby Dunnes Stores and was apprehended stealing a bottle of vodka. She aroused suspicions after security personnel noticed blood on her face. She was arrested and such was her intoxication, a rest period was deemed necessary before Gardai conducted four interviews. During those interviews Ms Sherlock was said to have been helpful and has been in custody since April 13, the date of the offence.
Ms Keane, who suffered a collapsed lung and damage to her heart, required life saving emergency surgery the court heard. Cosmetic disfigurement was also suffered by the victim during the attack.
Sherlock is the third of 13 children who was said to have a difficult background while growing up.
With 45 previous convictions, the case against the mother of one was described as being “appalling” according to Judge Carroll Moran.
“Two very young women were involved where one carried out a frenzied attack on the other. The CCTV footage captured the attack which there are no words for”.
Judge Carroll Moran jailed the 23-year-old for five years and suspended the final year.
A victim impact statement was not given to the court.
