A Central Criminal Court jury has failed to reach a verdict in the attempted murder trial of a man who broke two knives and twice stabbed his ex-partner of 18 years during an attack at her home.
Victim Cristal O'Brien had told the court how her former partner threatened to stab her "to pieces" and broke two knives in attacking her before going to retrieve a third, in what she described as a "terrifying" attack. She sustained two stab wounds to the leg.
Her neighbour Alice McGrath gave evidence that the accused man, Philip Cox, said he was going to kill his former partner and that he didn't care "if he did time".
The witness said she heard the defendant say he was "going to finish her [Ms O'Brien] off".
Philip Cox (39), who is originally from Tallaght in Dublin but has an address at York Street Flats in Dublin 2, had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his former partner, Cristal O’Brien, at the flat complex on December 1st 2022.
Charges
Mr Cox has pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, aggravated burglary and to the production of a knife during the course of the dispute.
Mr Cox, who had been in a long-term partnership with the victim which came to an end in July 2022, told gardaí in his interviews that he never had any intention of hurting Ms O'Brien and had "no idea" why he stabbed her twice in the leg.
He went on to say that the incident was "still all a blur" to him.
After seven hours and 33 minutes of deliberations over three days, the jury returned to court this afternoon unable to reach a verdict.
The seven men and five women of the jury had deliberated for six hours and 38 minutes when Mr Justice Paul McDermott gave them the option of reaching a majority verdict.
The jurors returned to court after seven hours and 25 minutes of deliberations and when the registrar asked the forewoman of the jury if they had reached a verdict on which at least ten of them agreed, she said "No".
At this point, Mr Justice McDermott asked the jurors whether further time would be of use to them in considering their verdict or if they had reached an impasse.
He told the jury that they were entitled to disagree, and he was not precluding them from continuing their deliberations. He asked them to go for their lunch and think about it.
When the jury returned to the courtroom at 2pm, the forewoman told the judge that they had not reached a verdict and were "still undecided". When asked by the judge whether further time would help them reach a verdict, the forewoman said they did not need the time.
The forewoman of the jury again answered "No" when asked by the registrar whether they had reached a verdict on which at least ten of them agreed.
Mr Justice McDermott told the forewoman to write the single word 'Disagreement' next to the count on the issue paper and thanked them for their participation in the process. He told the jury that without their involvement "the system simply can't work" and that this concluded their service.
The judge exempted them from jury service for the next ten years. He listed the matter for mention on March 22nd.
Day of incident
During the trial, Garda Anthony Cunningham testified that when he cautioned Mr Cox at York Flats he replied: "She attacked me, I went on a rampage and then I went overboard. She knocked into the neighbours, I went into the neighbours to get her.
"I went to do her bodily harm. I definitely stabbed her in the leg and I just blacked out. I saw you's come upstairs after I talked to my father on the phone, all I wanted was a smoke then you guys came after me".
Tim O'Leary SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, submitted in his closing speech that it was hard to imagine a better set of words and actions from Mr Cox that night to describe an attempt to kill. He said the accused had made his intentions "absolutely clear" on the night, leaving "no doubt in the case".
However, the defence argued in their closing address that not every "act of stabbing" constituted an attempt to murder and the evidence was consistent with an intention to cause harm to Ms O'Brien or possibly serious harm.
In seeking an outright acquittal for their client, defence counsel Eoghan Cole SC asked the jury to focus on "the relatively minor injuries" to the alleged victim, which they submitted had "no significant penetration or depth" to them.
He asked the jury to "think very carefully" about what is required for the intent of attempted murder. "If you are of the view that it is reasonably open to you that there was an intention to harm or seriously harm Ms O'Brien, then in the circumstances this was not an attempted murder," said Mr Cole.
The Central Criminal Court trial was briefly interrupted last week when the defendant was heard calling Ms O'Brien "a lying c**t" whilst she was giving evidence to the jury.
However, in his charge to the jury, Mr Justice McDermott said "things" can happen during criminal trials where emotions "run high" and "for whatever reason things may be said and done that are not evidence in the case".
He asked the jury to "exclude" the interruption from their assessment of the evidence, indicating that such interruptions were "noise" in the case.
Evidence
In her evidence, Ms O'Brien told the jury that she and Mr Cox broke up in July 2022 and that the defendant had moved out of their flat on York Street. Whilst the couple were living apart Mr Cox would stay at the apartment two nights a week for family matters.
Ms O'Brien said the couple had an argument when the defendant returned from the pub after midnight on December 1. She told the defendant to "go and f*** himself" and said Mr Cox took a knife from the kitchen.
"He was kind of pointing it [the knife] towards me, shoving it in front of me but not touching me. He was saying things like 'you don't like hearing the truth' and also said 'I will show you'," she continued.
Ms O'Brien said she was terrified and that Mr Cox had followed her out to the balcony saying "I will actually stab you". The witness said she felt she was in "serious trouble" and banged on the door of her neighbour Ms McGrath.
She said Mr Cox told her if she "got anyone out he would stab me to pieces".
She said that the defendant "caught" her at the top of the stairwell, telling the jury that: "As I got down one flight of stairs, he knocked me down.
While I was on the ground he was trying to stab me, I was kicking and punching up from the ground swinging my arms trying to stop him".
She said Ms McGrath was shouting at the accused to stop when she came out of her flat. "Philip must have hit the knife off the wall cause it broke, when the knife broke he kicked me in the face twice," she continued.
Ms O'Brien said she went into her neighbour's flat when Mr Cox went to retrieve a second knife. Despite Ms McGrath locking the door and putting the bolt on, the witness said Mr Cox "booted" in Ms McGrath's door and smashed the glass.
Ms O'Brien said: "He got the door open and came straight for me. I was sitting on the sofa. He started trying to stab me, I was again kicking up and swinging my legs trying to stop him. Alice was pulling at his t-shirt trying to get him off me, she was shouting at him to stop".
Ms O'Brien said she received two stab wounds to the leg whilst she was on her neighbour's couch. She said Mr Cox went to get a third knife when the second knife broke.
When Mr Cox returned to Ms McGrath's flat she heard her neighbour tell him that she had gone upstairs. Ms O'Brien ran out of the flat with her neighbour when she saw "his shape go up" the stairs. They hid behind a car in the flat complex.
In her evidence, Ms McGrath told the jury that Mr Cox had made stabbing motions towards Ms O'Brien in her flat that night but she [Ms McGrath] had grabbed him by the bottom of his Liverpool jersey and was pulling him back.
"I was trying to stop him from connecting at her with the knife he had in his hand. As he was trying to get higher, I was pulling him back and he got her leg".
Ms McGrath said Mr Cox was aiming higher than Ms O'Brien's leg; "up higher, the chest area". The witness said she ran into her neighbours to get help and when she came back into her flat she heard Mr Cox say he was "going to finish her off" before leaving.
