{"id":289978,"date":"2026-02-10T05:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289978\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T05:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:45:11","slug":"man-jailed-for-attempted-murder-of-former-partner-after-tracking-car-and-stabbing-her-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289978\/","title":{"rendered":"Man jailed for attempted murder of former partner after tracking car and stabbing her \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has been jailed for 16 years for attempting to murder his former partner after he armed himself with a knife, donned a disguise and followed her using an electronic tag attached to her car.<\/p>\n

Pedro Cifali (39), a Brazilian with a former address in Blanchardstown<\/a>, Dublin 15, previously pleaded guilty to attempting to murder Lucia Nezbalova (43) at the front door of her home in Garnish Square, Waterville, Dublin<\/a> 15, on May 10th, 2024.<\/p>\n

When Cifali approached Nezbalova at her door, he told her: \u201cDon\u2019t worry, I just want to talk\u201d, but almost immediately, he pulled out a knife and stabbed her.<\/p>\n

Justice Eileen Creedon at the Central Criminal Court<\/a> on Monday noted that Cifali stabbed Nezbolova in the neck, behind the ear, in the back of the head, in the stomach and arms and she suffered defensive wounds on her face and hands.<\/p>\n

The wound to her abdomen was so severe that her organs were visible, she said. Doctors described her injuries as life-threatening and said she survived only due to the intervention of a doctor who happened to live nearby and heard the screams.<\/p>\n

Creedon said the attack was unprovoked and has left the victim with restricted movements and suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Her mobility is limited and she requires further surgery. Part of the motivation for the premeditated attack was jealousy of Nezbolova\u2019s new relationship, the judge said.<\/p>\n

Creedon set a headline sentence of 20 years before considering mitigation, the most significant aspect of which was his guilty plea and lack of previous conditions. The judge imposed a final sentence of 16 years with a further 12 months suspended on condition that Cifali engage with the probation services. The sentence is backdated to May 15th, 2024, when Cifali first went into custody.<\/p>\n

At a previous hearing, a statement written by Nezbalova was read by prosecution senior counsel Shane Costelloe. <\/p>\n

She said she had to learn to live in \u201ca body that no longer feels like my own\u201d and now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and depression. \u201cThis has been a painful ongoing battle to reclaim my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nezbalova said she is a \u201csurvivor of an unthinkable act by my ex-partner, the father of my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described her permanent scars as \u201ccruel reminders of the violence that changed our lives\u201d. <\/p>\n

She was left in constant pain with limited mobility and struggled to carry out simple tasks, such as tying her daughter\u2019s shoelaces.<\/p>\n

She said she was forced to return to work before she had fully healed because she is now the only provider for her children and lacks family support in Ireland. <\/p>\n

She said she is \u201cterrified of being around people\u201d and gets overwhelmed by anxiety.<\/p>\n

The attack \u201cshattered\u201d her sense of safety in her own home. \u201cWhat he destroyed cannot simply be rebuilt, it lingers in our everyday lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Det Sgt Mark Murphy told Costelloe that the relationship between the accused and Nezbalova ended in April 2024. <\/p>\n

Following the break-up, he placed an electronic tag under the bumper of her car.<\/p>\n

On the day of the attack, CCTV harvested by garda\u00ed<\/a> showed Cifali arriving at a garage in Blanchardstown in his distinctive blue work van minutes after Nezbalova. He then tracked her to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and parked about 100m from her car. He stood at the shopping centre entrance while Nezbalova went to the McDonald\u2019s restaurant inside.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage showed Cifali\u2019s attempts to disguise his appearance by wearing a baseball cap pulled down over his forehead and a blonde wig. His beard was lighter than its natural colour.<\/p>\n

Members of the public noticed Cifali acting suspiciously and told security that he appeared to be carrying a knife. Cifali left the area before security guards could find him and he travelled to Nezbalova\u2019s home at Garnish Square to wait for her return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has been jailed for 16 years for attempting to murder his former partner after he armed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,613,42851,615,616,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-289978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-blanchardstown","10":"tag-central-criminal-court","11":"tag-dublin","12":"tag-dublin-15","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}