{"id":382579,"date":"2026-04-05T03:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/382579\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T03:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:03:09","slug":"limerick-mother-rammed-car-belonging-to-sons-ex-girlfriend-and-busted-it-with-crutch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/382579\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick mother \u2018rammed\u2019 car belonging to son\u2019s ex-girlfriend and \u2018busted\u2019 it with crutch"},"content":{"rendered":"

A LIMERICK mother \u201crammed into\u201d the car of her son\u2019s ex-girlfriend before getting out and \u201cbusting\u201d it with a crutch, a court has heard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sylvia Walsh, aged 51, with an address at Whitecross Gardens, Moyross, pleaded guilty to violent disorder, criminal damage and driving without insurance in relation to an incident that occurred on May 26, 2023.<\/p>\n

Chelsea Johnson, aged 25, with an address at Cosgrave Park, Moyross, pleaded guilty to affray relating to her involvement in the same incident.<\/p>\n

During a sentencing hearing at Limerick Circuit Court, prosecuting Barrister John O\u2019Sullivan BL outlined the details of what happened.<\/p>\n

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He said at approximately 12.30am on May 27, garda\u00ed were called to an address at Avondale Drive, Greystones in Limerick city.<\/p>\n

There, they spoke to the owner of the house, a man in his 50s who lived with his daughter, who was in her early 20s.<\/p>\n

The court heard the man\u2019s daughter was previously in a relationship with Ms Walsh\u2019s son, Christopher.<\/p>\n

Whilst difficulties had arisen and the relationship had ended, Mr Walsh was at the woman\u2019s house on the night in question.
At 11:35pm, Ms Walsh arrived at the house in her SEAT car.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival, she drove into the rear of the Volkswagen Golf belonging to her son\u2019s ex-girlfriend, before damaging it with a crutch. This was captured in CCTV footage.<\/p>\n

After the accused fled the scene, her son\u2019s ex reported the incident to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na.<\/p>\n

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At approximately 3am, Ms Walsh returned to the same address with two other women, one of whom was the co-accused, Ms Johnson.<\/p>\n

Ms Walsh again \u201crammed into\u201d the woman\u2019s car, before damaging it with her crutch. The rear wiper of the car was pulled off, along with the wing mirror of another car.<\/p>\n

When those inside the house were alerted, a \u201cstand-off\u201d ensued and there was a verbal altercation between the accused\u2019s son and his ex-girlfriend.<\/p>\n

After a physical altercation with the father, Mr Walsh obtained a hammer from his mother\u2019s car and used it to smash the window of his ex-girlfriend\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Sullivan said there was also a physical altercation between the ex-girlfriend and Ms Johnson, with the pair pulling each other\u2019s hair.<\/p>\n

The other woman, who had arrived in the car with Ms Walsh and Ms Johnson, attempted to break up the affray.<\/p>\n

Then, Mr Walsh got into the driver\u2019s seat of his mother\u2019s car and proceeded to reverse towards the three women. His ex-girlfriend was dragged under the car and he then drove forward with her under the wheel.<\/p>\n

Although she was subsequently dislodged from under the car, she suffered significant injuries, including a fractured pelvis, back and pubic area.<\/p>\n

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The other woman, who had attempted to break up the altercation, also suffered \u201csubstantial injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

When garda\u00ed arrived at the scene, the ex-girlfriend was \u201cbleeding from her head on the ground\u201d and \u201ccouldn\u2019t move\u201d.
Both women were subsequently taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick.<\/p>\n

At approximately 5:40am, Ms Walsh\u2019s car was seized after she returned to the scene for a third time.<\/p>\n

In June 2024, Christopher Walsh was sentenced to six years\u2019 imprisonment for his part in the incident. He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years.<\/p>\n

At 7:20pm day after the incident, Ms Walsh was arrested, detained and questioned by garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

She made full admissions, telling told garda\u00ed she was worried that her son would become involved with drugs and went to collect him.<\/p>\n

She said she \u201clost her head\u201d and \u201cbusted the mirrors and lights\u201d of his ex-girlfriend\u2019s car. She also told the woman that she would \u201cpunch the head off her\u201d.<\/p>\n

The court heard that Ms Walsh, in her late 40s at the time, has two sons and two daughters. She has 43 previous convictions, 36 of which relate to Road Traffic offences.<\/p>\n

Barrister Erin O\u2019Hagan BL, representing the accused, noted her client had been co-operative with garda\u00ed and accepted responsibility for her actions.<\/p>\n

She told the court that Ms Walsh has been \u201csurrounded by addiction her entire life\u201d and that she had lost her sister to substance abuse.<\/p>\n

In mitigation, Ms O\u2019Hagan said she had rarely encountered someone as remorseful as the accused. She said that Ms Walsh was \u201cabsolutely appalled\u201d by her behaviour and that the incident was \u201ccompletely out of character for her\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added that her client was the \u201ccornerstone of her family\u201d and that family members \u201cflock to her\u201d.<\/p>\n

Such was her remorse, Ms Walsh requested to address the court herself. \u201cI have two children in the grave already. I didn\u2019t want another one,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n

She also expressed regret that Ms Johnson had got caught up in the incident. She said the co-accused is her son\u2019s friend and she wanted her \u201cto go home to her children\u201d.<\/p>\n

Joseph McMahon BL, representing Ms Johnson, said she is a single parent of two who is currently unemployed but a \u201cfull-time parent\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said his client was left \u201ctraumatised and scared\u201d after the incident, having also been struck by the car driven by Mr Walsh.<\/p>\n

She has had ongoing back pain since the night in question and also has difficulties with anxiety and stress.<\/p>\n

Mr McMahon added that Ms Johnson is \u201cextremely apologetic\u201d for her role in the events that unfolded.<\/p>\n

Judge Colin Daly adjourned the case to allow him time to consider the evidence. He indicated he will pass sentence on April 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A LIMERICK mother \u201crammed into\u201d the car of her son\u2019s ex-girlfriend before getting out and \u201cbusting\u201d it with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,1396,67397,44,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-382579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-limerick","11":"tag-limerick-circuit-court","12":"tag-limerick-city","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382579","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=382579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}