No jail for woman who stabbed man ‘for a dare’

A WOMAN who stabbed a man in Navan wounding him in the stomach was spared jail at Trim Circuit Court.

The court heard the victim had dared her to do it not believing that she would.

Edita Gaudusaite (29), with an address at Limekiln Wood, Navan pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm to the man at Woodlands, Navan on 11th July 2020.

Evidence in the case was heard last year and adjourned for sentence.

The earlier sitting was told the defendant and injured party who were friends had drunk more than a bottle of vodka in the man's rented room in the hours before the incident.

The woman contacted the ambulance service who alerted the gardai and the victim was found lying on a bed holding a blood-soaked towel to a knife wound in his abdomen.

Garda Catherine Christie told prosecuting counsel Carl Hanahoe BL the injured man's condition quickly worsened and he was taken to the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Gardai were initially told the man had been injured in an incident in downtown Navan but the defendant later admitted stabbing him.

'OK I done it. It's my fault', she said adding that the man had dared her to stab him with one of his long bladed hunting knives.

Gaudusaite then showed gardai the weapon which she had put under the man's bed

The court heard the injured man had made a full recovery and declined to make a statement to gardai. He insisted the stabbing arose from a dare.

Defence barrister James O'Brien BL, who said the case involved a very strange set of facts added that his client had now moved to Drogheda and aimed to limit her intake of alcohol in future and turn her life around.

At a resumed hearing Judge Martina Baxter noted that a psychological report had identified the defendant had an issue with impulsiveness and could not be assessed for community service.

Judge Baxter imposed a sentence of 24 months which she suspended for 24 months and directed Gaudusaite remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for 18 months.