Woman jailed for 'forcefully' pushing her partner resulting in his death

BreakingNews.ie

04-07-2025

A woman who 'forcefully' pushed her partner, which resulted in his death, has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Olesja Hertova (49) of Hastings Lawn, Balbriggan, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of the unlawful killing of James Ryan on August 11th 2024, at the above address.
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She has no previous convictions.
Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Martin Nolan said that on the night in question, Hertova 'lost her temper with Mr Ryan and pushed him forcefully'.
'I have no doubt that she did not intend to kill him,' he said.
CCTV footage shown in court showed that Hertova forcefully pushed her partner, and he struck his head. The judge noted, 'It is tragic for his children and extended family.'
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Judge Nolan said Mr Ryan 'seems to have been a very popular and vital to his family'. He said that his death has caused 'huge trauma' and expressed the court's sympathies to them.
Judge Nolan said the mitigation in the case was very clear. He noted Hertova entered a guilty plea and co-operated with gardaí. He noted that she has no previous convictions, and, due to her previous good character, he said he does not believe she will reoffend in the future.
Judge Nolan set a headline sentence of five years and, after taking the mitigating factors into consideration, reduced this sentence to two years and nine months. He backdated to when she went into custody in August 2024.
Detective Garda Eoin McDonald told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that Hertova and Mr Ryan had been in a relationship for sixteen years and had a 15-year-old daughter together.
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On the day in question, Mr. Ryan had purchased a half-bottle of vodka for Hertova to have at a barbecue at their house. Once she had consumed the bottle of vodka, she went to the shop and purchased more alcohol.
After the barbecue, Mr Ryan went to a local pub and at 1am was seen entering a takeaway. He then took a taxi home, arriving at 1.30am.
The court heard that when Mr Ryan arrived home, both he and Hertova began to argue, and Mr Ryan walked out the front door of his home and unlocked a car in the driveway. Hertova followed him out and told him not to drive. She then pushed Mr Ryan, and he fell to the ground.
The court heard Hertova went to walk back into the house, but then turned and went over to Mr Ryan and fixed his glasses. Their daughter came out of the house, neighbours also came over, and an ambulance was called. At first, Mr Ryan was unconscious, and there was blood coming from his ear. When he regained consciousness, he was unable to stand up.
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An ambulance transferred Mr Ryan to Beaumont Hospital, where a brain CT showed bruising to his frontal lobe along with a haemorrhage. Mr Ryan's level of consciousness dropped and his pupils began to dilate, but before medical staff could reduce this pressure, his condition deteriorated, and he was referred to palliative care. Mr Ryan passed away the following day on August 11th.
Gda McDonald said a post-mortem examination was carried out, and the cause of death was a blunt-force head injury due to a fall. It was also noted that he had COPD and Parkinson's disease, but these did not contribute to his death.
The court heard that neighbours of Mr Ryan looked at CCTV footage from their home and, upon doing this, gave the footage to the gardaí. The home of Mr Ryan and Hertova was searched.
On August 27th, 2024, the house was searched again, and Hertova was arrested, detained and interviewed. During interview, Hertova said that she was trying to pull Mr Ryan away from the car so he would not drive it. She expressed remorse during her interview.
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When the CCTV footage was played in court, Hertova became visibly upset, as did members of Mr Ryan's family. Mr Ryan was 69 years old at the time of his death and had been in a relationship with Hertova since 2006. He was previously married, and a number of his children from that marriage were present in court.
Gda McDonald agreed with Bernard Condon SC, defending, that the CCTV footage showed Hertova coming back out of the house and staying with Mr Ryan to comfort him until the emergency services arrived.
The garda agreed with counsel that in a witness statement, Hertova was kissing Mr Ryan and that both Mr Ryan and Hertova were laughing together.
Ms Karen Ryan, who is Mr Ryan's adult daughter, read victim impact statements on behalf of herself and Mr Ryan's siblings. She said: 'My dad was known and described as a gentleman. Nothing could prepare me for the destruction his death caused. I don't know how to exist without him.'
She said that since her father's death, she worries daily about her younger sister.
'No one sees the ripple effect when someone is violently taken from your home,' she said. 'I have not had time to deal with my own grief.'
Referring to Hertova, Ms Ryan said, 'She didn't just kill him, she tried to hide it. This person knew exactly what she did; she tried to hide it.'
'She watched our pain and stayed silent. The cruelty is hard to put into words, and it will haunt me for the rest of my life.'
'This trauma has affected my personal and professional life, and sometimes it is hard to get out of bed. My children are the reason I keep going.
"The loss has changed our lives in a way we can never fully express.'
Ms Ryan also read a victim impact statement on behalf of Mr Ryan's sisters, Una and Jackie, who described their brother as 'the cornerstone of our family and cherished by all who knew him.'
'This has left a scar on our family. It is such an immense loss, our family will never be the same again. We will never hear his laughter or see his cheeky smile. She has stolen our brother away.'
Mr Ryan's daughter, Lynn, read her victim impact statement to the court, saying: 'The wound inflicted on my family will never truly heal.'
'She [Hertova] extinguished the light of our family. His dignity was stripped away. I could not hold him and offer him a final embrace. She sat there, with what I know now were crocodile tears'
The Director of Public Prosecutions placed this offence as being at the lower end of the medium culpability range, with a recommended headline sentence of four to 10 years, the court heard.
Mr Condon, defending, disagreed and said he believed that the offence fell into the higher end of the lower range. He outlined to the court that this was 'one push with a tragic outcome'.
He asked the court to take into account his client's early guilty plea and that she has been in custody since August 2024. He said as a result of this, she has now lost her home.
Counsel stated that Hertova has limited support going forward and plans to return to her home country, the Czech Republic, upon her release from prison.
He handed a letter to the court from Hertova, which said: 'I am so very sorry, and I will live with it for the rest of my life. I look at my hands daily and just want to cut them off. I think about my wrongdoing daily, and I am sorry.'
He asked the court to be mindful of directing a prisoner to rehabilitation and to take into account her lack of previous convictions, her remorse and guilty plea.