Knife attacker on bail jailed for another six years after stabbing

A man described as a Jekyll and Hyde has received a six-year jail sentence for stabbing a former friend seven times while he was on bail for a vicious attack on his ex-partner.

Athlone father of two Mark Conway's latest sentence, handed down on Friday, is to run consecutively to a five-year, three-month sentence imposed in January.

The 40-year-old sliced his victim's liver, resulting in emergency surgery, and his gallbladder had to be removed, Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court heard.

The wounded man recalled being stabbed from head to waist.Later, he and his terrified family had to endure local taunts that Conway was like the fictional horror film character Freddy Krueger and that he "was coming for you".

Conway pleaded guilty to causing serious harm, and other charges connected to the vicious knife attack on March 1, 2025.

Gardaí arrived to find blood trails from the stab victim leading to each man's home, in Marine View, Athlone, Co Westmeath.

Judge Keenan Johnson previously said the accused had "Jekyll and Hyde characteristics, passive when sober, and when he is drunk, he is a menace, violent and a thug"

In January, he had been jailed for a brutal attack on his ex-girlfriend, who later fled the country.

Conway appeared again on Friday to be sentenced for the stabbing when Judge Johnson noted the level of premeditation used. He imposed a seven-year sentence but suspended the final 12 months with conditions including no contact with the victim or his family for five years.

The judge recalled the evidence that Conway had tried to blame the victim for the violence until he was shown incriminating CCTV evidence.

He later said sorry in court.

Judge Johnson stressed that Conway's victim was justified in his actions in self-defence and praised the first responders who likely saved his life.

Garda Jennifer Cassells said that gardaí found the injured party bleeding heavily in his home, where he lived with his partner and their children.

A garda applied pressure to a wound on his abdomen. There was a significant amount of blood on his couch and in the hallway.

Gardaí learned that the victim and Conway had been friends who had been drinking together and had jointly placed a €20 bet on a horse over the previous days. They later argued over the money.

At 9.45 pm on the date of the attack, Conway turned up at his friend's home and banged the door with a pole, demanding, “I want my fucking money”.

The victim became irate, came out, and the accused came at him with the pole, but the victim disarmed him. He went back inside but went out again with the pole when Conway returned.

This time Conway had a shovel and a flick knife, and during the row he stabbed the man seven times in the abdomen and arm, the court heard. CCTV from a nearby house was played in court.

The injured man and his partner furnished victim impact statements expressing how they feel unsafe and suffer flashbacks. The man said he had a weird empty feeling where they removed his gallbladder.

His partner said, "There was blood everywhere like you would see in a movie".

The man lost consciousness and was rushed to hospital, where he was saved by keyhole surgery.

Both he and his partner have post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the attack, the judge heard.

Conway began drinking from the age of 14 after his mother died, and later he began abusing medication as well. He admitted he could not hold down a job and had been in employment for at most one year of his life. He had 26 prior convictions, which included assault, public order, criminal damage, burglary, theft and knife possession.

Defence senior counsel John Shortt SC said that since being jailed at Castlerea Prison in January, custody has benefited his client, who is taking part in a horticulture course on an enhanced regime and attending the gym and education unit.

In his previous case, he admitted assault causing harm to Kirsty Fitzpatrick, age 27, on February 16, 2024, at his home address. She was repeatedly kicked and punched before Conway began delivering full-force blows with a golf club. It left her in excruciating pain and suffering nerve damage to her left arm. She spoke out in court about the mental scars, which she thought would take years to heal.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme