Woman given five year sentence for killing partner in self-defence

Alison O’Riordan

A 50-year-old woman, who used excessive force in self-defence when she fatally stabbed her partner in a Dublin apartment "in response to an anticipated attack", has been jailed for five years.

The Central Criminal Court previously heard that Ann Phelan, who had her own "demons with drugs" and led a "disruptive life", told gardaí she was in "total fear", that she didn't mean to kill her ex-partner David Ennis, and what had happened was a "tragic accident".

The court heard that Mr Ennis had suffered head injuries after a fall from a balcony a few days before he was killed and had been behaving aggressively.

Phelan's barrister, Fiona Murphy SC, alongside Carol Doherty BL, had informed the court during a sentencing hearing that her client was "tortured by her actions" and had genuinely cared for Mr Ennis.

The pair were "in a relationship of sorts" for two to three years where drugs were "sadly" a feature, the court heard.

Sentencing Phelan at the Central Criminal Court on Monday, presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Burns noted that the defendant was acting in self-defence in response to an anticipated attack from the deceased.

It was confirmed by a detective at the sentence hearing that the defendant thought Mr Ennis had a knife at the time. Phelan also thought she had stabbed him in the arm, but the knife had gone into his side.

The judge pointed out today that Phelan had used a knife against an unarmed man and that arming herself with such a weapon was one of the aggravating factors in the case.

Ann Phelan was originally charged with the murder of David Ennis (36) at Claddagh Court in Ballyfermot on the night of November 8th, 2022.

However, last November, Phelan, of Aylward Green, Finglas, Dublin 11, pleaded guilty to manslaughter when she was arraigned before the court.

Phelan has 26 previous convictions, of which the majority are for public order offences and non-appearance before court. She has no convictions for assault but does hold a conviction for violent behaviour in a garda station dating back to 2018.

In a victim impact statement read to the court last month by the detective in the case, the deceased's mother, Geraldine Ennis, said her son was "a hard-working man in his day and always helped me out whenever he could".

Mrs Ennis said her son's life "tragically ended too soon" and that she was "devastated and heartbroken beyond words" that she will never see him again. She said she now needed "closure" and to let him rest in peace.

In a second statement, the deceased's brother, Lee Ennis, said David was "a great brother", that he missed him dearly and "stresses about how he passed". "I feel depressed at times and find it hard to accept".

DNA profile

The court heard that a small potato peeler-like knife was found wrapped in some bedding adjacent to where Mr Ennis's body was found. Blood on the blade of the knife matched the deceased's DNA profile.

Phelan gave a voluntary cautioned interview to gardaí in which she said Mr Ennis told her he would stab her and "the next thing he was on the floor with blood coming out of him".

She told gardaí that Mr Ennis had fallen on the floor and that there was a knife in the bedroom.

She described to gardaí putting him in the recovery position and trying to help him. She said the deceased was not in his right mind and "was just going to stab them".

Before delivering the sentence on Monday, Mr Justice Burns said that Phelan and Mr Ennis had been in a relationship and that, unfortunately, the pair had significant problems involving long-term substance abuse and that their lives had reflected their drug addictions.

The judge said Phelan and Mr Ennis would sometimes call into witness Martin Higgins' address, who lived at Claddagh Court, where the event took place in the early hours of November 8th, 2022. He said Phelan would do some cleaning and washing for Mr Higgins.

He said Mr Ennis had fallen from a balcony and suffered from a head injury in the days preceding this event. He said Mr Ennis had slapped Mr Higgins when he opened his front door that night and threatened to burst his eye open.

The judge went on to say that Mr Higgins was further assaulted by the deceased when Phelan was present that night.

He said Phelan had also been assaulted by Mr Ennis in the bedroom. When Mr Higgins later went into the bedroom, he found Mr Ennis on the floor having a fit or seizures and that Phelan had been trying to lift the deceased's head, he commented.

Tragically, the judge said, Mr Ennis died from one of the three stab wounds he suffered, but that two of the wounds to the thigh and calf had not contributed to his death.

He pointed out that Phelan had voluntarily gone to the garda station, had indicated to officers that Mr Ennis had threatened to stab her and that the deceased was "not in his right mind" at the time.

The judge said Phelan also told gardaí that she had put the knife into Mr Ennis as she was frightened.

He said over the course of her six interviews with detectives, she had indicated she was acting in self-defence. "She stated she thought Mr Ennis had a knife and she had got a knife," he added. The judge said Phelan told officers she had intended to stab Mr Ennis in the left arm.

Passing sentence on Monday, Mr Justice Burns said the offence had been carried out by Phelan on a man she had been in an intimate relationship with. He said the defendant was acting in self-defence in response to an anticipated attack from Mr Ennis.

The judge set the headline sentence at eight years.

In mitigation, Mr Justice Burns noted the defendant's guilty plea, that she had expressed remorse and that she had suffered from drug addiction for many years as well as depression. He commented that Phelan had found it difficult to settle in prison and that she was now close to 51 years of age.

Having considered mitigation, the judge sentenced Phelan to six years imprisonment with the final year suspended for a period of three years on the basis that she remain under the supervision of the probation services for that time and engage with counselling and addiction services.

The sentence was backdated to October 27th, 2023, when she went into custody. The judge extended the court's sympathies to the Ennis family for their loss.