Waterford man jailed for stabbing teen (16)
Waterford Courthouse
A Waterford man has been sentenced to serve nearly four years in prison for stabbing a 16-year-old boy in the leg.
Anthony Connelly, of Priory Lawn, Ballybeg, was found guilty of committing Section 3 assault and Section 11 production of an article by a jury trial earlier this year.
Last week, Connelly (43) was sentenced to three years and nine months for the assault and two years and six months for production of a knife. Both sentences are to run concurrently.
The assault occurred on the night of June 29, 2022, in Clonard Park. Connelly got into a verbal altercation with several young men who lived nearby him.
Anthony Connolly told Gardaí during his interview that he had attended his grandmother's funeral on the day of the incident. He stated that after the mass he went to Paddy Browne's pub at around 3.30pm and left the premises at around 12.40am. He claimed to have had five or six drinks during that time.
When returning home, he claimed that three young men were riding bicycles nearby.
Connolly told Gardaí that he went to their home to confront them but did not have a knife in his possession. The parties are understood to have a "multi-generational feud".
During the altercation, Connelly is believed to have produced a silver knife and struck the teen in his upper leg. The victim's brother's frantic phone call to Gardaí was heard in Court, in which he said that his brother had been stabbed and the blood was "pumping" out of him.
The medical records further state that the victim presented to the emergency department with a “traumatic laceration to the right upper thigh” but that no major blood vessels had been punctured.
In the victim impact statement, the injured party wrote: "He [Connelly] has never taken accountability. I would like to thank the jury for seeing through the lies he told."
At the sentencing hearing, defence counsel Sarah Jane Comerford told the court that Connelly struggled with substance issues and mental health problems. Ms Comerford said that he had been diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and, recently, schizophrenia. He maintained his innocence in the matter but was "remorseful" for what the youth had to face on that night.
The court heard that Connelly had 22 previous convictions, beginning in May 2000. Judge Eugene O'Kelly commented: "This is a man with 22 previous convictions including a nine year sentence for drug dealing."
