'Nerves, tendons, and muscles in my arms were completely severed by the knife.'

Sinead O’Leary has permanent nerve damage and chronic nerve pain 17 years after the savage attack by Peter Whelan.

There was public outrage in recent days at confirmation that Whelan has been getting supervised day leave from prison, sanctioned by the Parole Board and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

He is currently six years into a life sentence for the murder of Ms Sweeney and has already served 12 years of a 15-year sentence for the attempted murder of Sinead. He pleaded guilty to the two charges.