A woman has taken the stand in the attempted murder trial of her ex-partner, telling a jury how he threatened to stab her "to pieces" and broke two knives before going to retrieve a third in an attack where he inflicted knife wounds to her leg.
Philip Cox, with an address at York Street Flats in Dublin 2, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his former partner Cristal O’Brien, at that address on December 1st, 2022.
Opening the case today on Tuesday, Timothy O'Leary SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the jury that Mr Cox had previously pleaded guilty to producing a knife, aggravated burglary and assault causing harm.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it is the jury’s job to decide whether Mr Cox intended to kill Ms O’Brien beyond a reasonable doubt.
Giving her evidence to the trial, Ms O’Brien told Mr O’Leary that on the night of the attack, Mr Cox had finished work early, went to the pub across the road from her flat and returned at around 12.30am.
She said that initially they were getting along well and making plans for Christmas, before an argument started.
She said that the accused was suggesting that she went out drinking every night and she eventually “told him to go f**k himself”.
Ms O’Brien said that the accused then walked into the kitchen and picked up a large kitchen knife, saying: “You don’t like the truth, I’ll show you the truth”.
She told Mr O’Leary: “He came over to me with the knife, he was kind of pointing it and shoving it in front of me but not touching.”
“He was ranting, during this I was terrified, thinking how am I going to get out of here?” Ms O'Brien told the court.
At this stage, Ms O’Brien attempted to call gardai, but she said Mr Cox knocked the phone out of her hand and threw it away.
Ms O’Brien said she then went outside to the common landing of the flats, followed by Mr Cox, who she said told her: “I will actually stab you”.
She said she then began banging on her neighbour’s door, while Mr Cox threatened to “stab her to pieces”.
After this, Ms O’Brien ran down one flight of stairs before she said the accused knocked her to the ground and tried to stab her. “I was kicking and punching up from the ground, swinging my arms to stop him,” she told the jury.
She said that Mr Cox kicked her twice in the face and must have hit the knife off the wall because it broke. Ms O’Brien said he told her he was going to get another knife.
Ms O’Brien said her neighbour, Alice McGrath, had run out of her own flat upon hearing the noise and together they both ran into Ms McGrath’s flat and bolted the door. At this point Ms O’Brien said she directed Ms McGrath to call the gardai.
She said that Mr Cox then returned, smashed the window in the door of her neighbour’s flat and opened the bolt from the inside.
“He came straight for me. I was sitting on the sofa and he started trying to stab me. I was sitting up kicking my legs,” the witness told counsel.
Ms O’Brien said that Ms McGrath was pulling at Mr Cox’s jersey trying to get him off her, but he still stabbed the witness twice in the leg.
She said that at this stage, the second knife also broke in the assault and she told Mr O’Leary that Mr Cox said “he was going to finish me off”.
When he left the flat to retrieve another knife, Ms O’Brien said that she went to hide behind the door in the kitchen. She said Ms McGrath told Mr Cox when he returned that she had gone upstairs. She said when he went up the stairs, Ms O’Brien and Ms McGrath escaped out the door and down the stairs of the building.
She said they hid behind a car outside until gardai and an ambulance arrived.
Ms O’Brien said she was taken to St James’s Hospital, where she received stitches for both of her stab wounds, a tetanus shot and treatment for her busted lip and bruising to both her arms.
Alice McGrath, Ms O’Brien’s neighbour, also told Mr O’Leary that when she heard a thump on her door, she went out and heard Mr Cox say: “I’m going to stab you” and “I’m going to kill you dead”.
Ms McGrath said during the accused's attack on Ms O’Brien in her house, she was pleading with him to stop but that he would not listen and continued attempting to stab the victim.
She said: “He was going for the top of her body but I was pulling him back and he was hitting her leg.”
Ms McGrath said: “He said he was going to finish her off, he didn’t care if he did time”.
The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Hunt and a jury of eight men and four women.
