Couple who carried out hammer attack in which grandmother lost eye have convictions upheld

Fiona Magennis

A former couple who carried out a “prolonged” three-hour attack on a grandmother, who lost an eye after she was struck several times with a hammer before being tied up in a bin bag, have had their convictions upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Gerard Stokes (44) and his co-accused Samantha Campbell (36) were convicted of inflicting what a judge described as a “punishment beating” on the woman over alleged missing drugs.

The attack on the woman lasted several hours, during which time Stokes hit the victim repeatedly with a hammer and said he was going to kill her and get rid of her body. He made the woman pull a black bin bag over herself and then tied it.

The pair, both with addresses in Muirhevnamór, Dundalk, were convicted by a jury after a three-week trial in February last year of seriously assaulting the woman at Stokes’ home, falsely imprisoning her, assaulting her friend causing harm, and carrying out an aggravated burglary at that friend’s home in Waterville Crescent on December 5th, 2018.

Stokes received a 13-and-a-half-year sentence, with two years suspended, for seriously assaulting the victim, who lost an eye in the attack and now uses a prosthesis.

Campbell got a 12-year term on a similar charge, with two years suspended.

Statement

Stokes and Campbell had appealed their convictions, arguing that a statement given by the woman to gardaí from her hospital bed should not have gone before a jury as the victim was “in and out of consciousness” at the time.

Dismissing Stokes and Campbell’s appeal against their convictions on Monday, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy ruled that there was no error on the part of the trial judge in admitting the statement into evidence.

She said Judge Dara Hayes properly applied the legal principles and ultimately determined that the statement was made voluntarily and was reliable in the correct sense.

Ms Justice Kennedy noted Stokes and Campbell had summoned the woman, who was an acquaintance, to Stoke’s house for questioning about a package of cocaine they had allegedly asked her to hold for them. Upon its return, they claimed a portion of it was missing.

She said they inflicted a series of attacks on the victim in an attempt to find out what had happened to the allegedly missing drugs.
Campbell punched the woman in the face and pulled her hair. Stokes took the victim’s phone and ordered her to stand on black bin bags on the floor. He picked up a hammer and told Campbell that punching and kicking was not working and that it was time to “finish” her “off”.

Stokes hit the woman five times with the hammer and then said he was going to kill her and get rid of her body.

'Prolonged' attack

He turned the victim to face him and hit her with the hammer on her head and right eye. He told the woman to pull the black bin bag over herself, and he then tied it, striking her again in her genital area and upper thigh.

This “prolonged” attack on the victim lasted approximately three hours, Ms Justice Kennedy said.

The woman sustained significant injuries in the attack including the rupturing of her right eye leading to its loss, fractures of several facial bones for which she had plates inserted and significant bruising. She also suffered severe distress and trauma and required psychiatric intervention.

As she was becoming unconscious, in an attempt to save her own life, the woman said that the package was at a friend’s house. However, the friend was not in possession of any drugs.

Stokes and Campbell put her in a car and drove to this person’s house, having told another individual to burn the hammer, the victim’s phone and the plastic bin bags. Both defendants assaulted the second woman but fled the scene after gardai arrived.

Appeal hearing

At the appeal hearing last month, Roderick O’Hanlon SC, for Stokes, argued that that the jury should not have been allowed to rely on the statement, as no medical evidence was given during the trial to show that the witness was fit to make it.

Counsel said the woman was “in and out of consciousness” and was “virtually asleep” during the reading back of her statement.
A subsequent letter from a solicitor to gardaí indicated the woman wished to withdraw her statement due to memory loss and psychiatric issues, Mr O’Hanlon said. The statement was nevertheless admitted into evidence following a voir dire.

Kevin McCrave BL, for Campbell, said that the submissions made by Mr O’Hanlon were also relevant to his client.

Counsel for the State, Timothy O’Leary SC, said that a substantial voir dire had taken place on the admissibility of the statement, during which the trial judge had the benefit of viewing a video recording. He said that the circumstances of the incident were so serious, with the woman having lost an eye in the attack, that gardaí were trying to progress the case.

Ms Justice Kennedy, in dismissing the appeals, said it was for the jury to determine what they thought of the evidence in the context of all the surrounding circumstances and factors in making the statement, as well as the inclusion of the letter written on the witness’ behalf.

She said two gardaí had given evidence and the woman was able to make a statement and wished to do so. More telling, she said, was the fact that the statement made by the victim at the time was “long, detailed and cogent”.

She noted the woman subsequently made a further statement whilst she remained hospitalised on January 8th, 2019 in which she had clarified certain issues and had again assisted gardaí a week later regarding the location of a property.

Ms Justice Kennedy dismissed further grounds of appeal raised by Stokes that the trial judge made an error in allowing the jury to rely on telephone data involving various phones that were linked to the appellants. A further contention that the judge had been wrong in refusing to grant a direction to acquit in relation to certain counts on the indictment was also rejected.

Passing sentence at Dundalk Circuit Court, Judge Dara Hayes said that what occurred was effectively a “punishment beating’” over alleged missing drugs. He noted the woman was fearful of giving evidence and said he understood her reluctance to attend court.

The court heard Stokes and Campbell, a mother of seven, have two children together.

Stokes has 14 previous convictions, including possession of drugs for sale or supply, blackmail/extortion and witness intimidation.

Campbell has eight previous convictions, including possession of drugs for sale or supply and road traffic offences.

In her victim impact statement, the grandmother of nine said that she was very badly assaulted "for something I didn’t do".