{"id":456925,"date":"2026-05-19T16:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456925\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:41:19","slug":"woman-who-stabbed-bar-manager-11-days-after-her-sons-funeral-given-suspended-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456925\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who stabbed bar manager 11 days after her son\u2019s funeral given suspended sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who stabbed a bar manager 11 days after her murdered son\u2019s funeral has been given a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence.<\/p>\n

Mary Hand (49) pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and possession of an article in the course of a dispute on February 3rd 2024.<\/p>\n

Hand, of Beachfield Heights, Castaheany, Clonee, Dublin 15 was on Tuesday given a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence on condition that she engage with the Probation Service for 18 months.<\/p>\n

Garda Derek O’Reilly told Joe Mulrean BL, prosecuting, that Hand and another woman were drinking at a pub on Fleet Street.<\/p>\n

The pub’s manager noticed the two women were intoxicated and being loud.<\/p>\n

He decided not to serve them further, asked them to leave, and poured their drinks into disposable cups.<\/p>\n

Hand started to shout abuse at him and was resistant to leaving the premises.<\/p>\n

At the pub’s door, Hand lunged at the injured party, swiping at him. He ducked and felt something on his torso.<\/p>\n

He grabbed Hand’s wrist and pushed her out of the door. The injured party then noticed a knife on the ground and cuts to his shirt.
CCTV was played in court.<\/p>\n

When garda\u00ed on patrol arrived, they recovered an orange Stanley knife, which was shown to the court. Hand was sitting outside.<\/p>\n

The injured party sustained a 6cm cut to his abdomen and an 8cm cut to his chest. He was taken to hospital and a medical report was provided to the court. He declined to make a victim impact statement.<\/p>\n

Hand was arrested and, when interviewed, said she didn’t remember what happened.<\/p>\n

She told garda\u00ed that she met a friend, whose name she couldn’t think of, and they travelled into the city centre.<\/p>\n

Hand identified herself on CCTV, but denied having any interactions with staff at the pub or carrying a knife. She said she was taking medication and had no memory of the night.<\/p>\n

Hand has previous convictions, including for two threats to kill and public order offences.<\/p>\n

O’Reilly agreed that Hand had entered an early guilty plea, was remorseful and expressed concern for the injured party.<\/p>\n

It was further accepted that this incident took place 11 days after the funeral of her son, who was murdered.<\/p>\n

The garda agreed that Hand has no previous convictions for violent offending.<\/p>\n

Defence counsel noted this was \u201cclearly significant and serious offending\u201d, which Hand had no memory of, primarily as a result of alcohol abuse.<\/p>\n

A friend suggested they go for a few drinks, but Hand acknowledges she shouldn’t have.<\/p>\n

It was submitted that Hand’s offending behaviour was related to the conditions at the time.<\/p>\n

She said she can’t explain how she had the knife in her possession and accepts it may have been due to feelings of paranoia and concern.<\/p>\n

Hand had a difficult childhood and has suffered several tragedies in her life, the court was told.<\/p>\n

A psychological report and several letters were handed to the court.<\/p>\n

Counsel said Hand had used alcohol as a \u201ccrutch\u201d during times of significant grief.<\/p>\n

Counsel asked the court to take into consideration the \u201cunusual background circumstances\u201d of this case.<\/p>\n

Judge Martina Baxter noted that Hand\u2019s son had been murdered and acknowledged how difficult that must have been for her.<\/p>\n

She said looking at her previous convictions, it was clear that \u201calcohol had been her drug of choice over the years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Baxter accepted that Hand had demonstrated remorse and had expressed concern for the victim in the case.<\/p>\n

She said a probation report before the court clearly indicated that Hand has made \u201cgenuine efforts at rehabilitation\u201d and noted that a report from her doctor \u201ccommended the fact that she has stayed away from alcohol\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has adopted an approach that is indicative of genuine, which is very impressive considering her difficulties. She is standing tall at this point,\u201d Judge Baxter said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Dispute<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Dispute between pilot and Aer Lingus is settled<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Judge Baxter accepted that Hand has \u201cmade great progress\u201d in addressing her abuse of alcohol which she said was the main factor in her offending behaviour.<\/p>\n

She said the aggravating features of the case were the fact that she was \u201ccarrying a weapon of offence and was prepared to use it\u201d. She noted that the victim was a working man who was trying to protect others that night.<\/p>\n

Judge Baxter imposed a sentence of three and a half years, which she suspended in full for four years on condition that Hand engage with the Probation Service for 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very best of luck to you now,\u201d Judge Baxter said to Hand after she entered into her bond before the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who stabbed a bar manager 11 days after her murdered son\u2019s funeral has been given a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-456925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456925","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=456925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}