Son of veteran criminal jailed for ten years for attempted murder of ex-wife's friend

Ryan Dunne

The son of veteran criminal Eamon Kelly has been jailed for ten years for trying to murder his former wife's friend, whom he blamed for the breakup of his marriage, in a rage-filled knife attack at the victim's home.

In sentencing Matthias Kelly (43) at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday, Judge Paul McDermott noted that the “ferocious attack” on Fiona Timmermans had left the victim with facial scarring and robbed her of her sense of safety.

The judge said that it was not clear that a brain injury suffered by Kelly following a road traffic accident in 2016 had affected his actions on the day, but he ruled that such an injury would make the defendant’s time in prison more difficult.

Kelly, of no fixed abode in Coolock in Dublin, pleaded guilty last year to the attempted murder of Timmermans at Newbury Lawns, Clonshaugh in Dublin 17 on September 7th, 2024.

At a sentencing hearing in January, Det Gda Alan Roche told prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan SC that the victim was a friend of the defendant's former wife.

On September 1st, 2024, he sent a text to Timmermans saying: "I'm going to cut your throat, you're dead." On September 6th he threw a brick through the window of his ex-wife's home.

The following day he entered Timmermans' home through an open back door, took a knife from her kitchen and went to her bedroom.

Timmermans described to gardaí that she awoke to see Kelly standing over her before he started stabbing at her neck and head "like a madman", shouting: "You're dead, you're dead."

She fought back and kicked him in the groin before he "jumped on her head five times" and left the house, the garda said. Timmermans told gardaí she knew she had a bad wound to her neck, saw blood everywhere and thought she was going to die.

She was treated at Beaumont Hospital for stab wounds to her forehead, face and neck but was discharged on the same day. A doctor's report stated that she would make a recovery from her physical injuries within weeks but may be left with permanent, visible scars.

When gardaí arrested and questioned him, Kelly described his victim as a "knacker" and said she had "ruined my family's life".

He said he would still be with his wife if it weren't for Timmermans, but said he regretted attacking her, describing his actions as "bang out of order" and "disgusting". He accepted that he had previously threatened Timmermans but added: "I never really planned on doing it. I never thought I would actually go through with it."

Barristers for Kelly said he had suffered a brain injury in 2016 following a car crash and a further head injury in a fall down stairs two days before he broke into Timmermans' home and tried to stab her to death.

The sentencing hearing was then adjourned to allow further time for the defence to find a neuropsychologist to provide a report on how the brain injuries affected Kelly’s behaviour.

At the finalisation of sentencing on Wednesday, the judge said that the defence had been unable to procure this, so the report that was before the court was not as extensive as expected.

He noted that Kelly had previously been involved in a serious road traffic incident, which left him with a brain injury, and prior to the attack on Timmermans, he attended for depression and alcohol abuse.

The judge said that two or three days before the attack, Kelly fell down some steps after drinking heavily and banged his head, causing an injury to which he partially attributed his actions. The judge also noted that Kelly was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the offence.

The judge said that Kelly had made extensive admissions and pleaded guilty. He had nine previous convictions, all summary matters. He said the probation services had found Kelly cooperative, with the defendant accepting that his violent actions could have resulted in Timmermans’ death.

The judge noted the defendant was reluctant to accept that he entered the house in an attempt to kill the victim, but he accepted that he had narrowly avoided killing her.

“It is not clear that his brain injury had an effect on what he did,” said the judge, adding that self-induced intoxication was not an excuse nor a mitigating factor. He accepted, however, that Kelly’s wife said violence was out of character for her husband.

The judge set headline sentences of 16 years for the attempted murder, ten years for burglary, eight years for making threats to kill, and four years each for the production of an article and a criminal damage charge.

He said there were significant mitigating factors in the case, including Kelly’s guilty plea, his expression of remorse, and the fact he had taken steps to address his violence and addiction issues.

He said that Kelly’s “rage and anger” led him to commit these offences, but he had no prior convictions for violent offences, and that prison would be more difficult for Kelly due to his acquired brain injury.

After mitigation, the judge imposed a sentence of 12 years for the attempted murder, seven years for burglary, six years for the threats to kill, and three years each for the production of the knife and criminal damage, with all sentences to run concurrently, backdated to September 9th, 2024.

The judge suspended the last two years of the sentence, on condition that Kelly attends all appointments with the probation services, engages in victim awareness work and with addiction services, and does not have any contact with the injured party.

Kelly had also pleaded guilty to entering Timmermans' home as a trespasser intending to murder her and producing a kitchen knife with a serrated blade in the course of a dispute on the same occasion.

Kelly also admitted making a threat to kill Timmermans at an unknown location within the State on September 1st, 2024, intending her to believe it would be carried out.

Kelly also pleaded guilty to damaging the sitting room window and front bedroom window of his ex-wife's home, intending such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be damaged at Millbrook Avenue, Coolock in Dublin 13 on September 6th, 2024.

Kelly's father, Eamon Kelly, was shot dead outside his home on Furry Park Rd, Killester, Dublin 5 on December 4th, 2012.