Courts / Dublin / Report

Woman attacked on morning walk tells trial she felt knife cut through fingers

Date
2018-02-27

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

During the fourth day of his trial at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Slawomir Gierlowski, aged 33, denied attacking three women in 2011, 2015 and 2016. A woman, whose identity is withheld, testified that on 16 May 2016 she was attacked while walking to a Luas stop. She described being grabbed from behind by two arms, one holding a hunting knife and the other a dirty grey rag. The knife was pressed against her right cheek and moved down to her throat. She felt the blade cut through her fingers as she pulled it away, and she screamed before the attacker fled. She was taken to hospital where she was treated for severed tendons in three fingers and still cannot fully bend them. Gierlowski denies all allegations of false imprisonment, sexual assault and assault on the three women. The trial continues before Judge Pauline Codd and a jury of 11 men.