‘Numb': Woman's life ‘changed forever' after being tortured by five men in a Dublin flat

Irish Times

2 days ago

A woman who was falsely imprisoned and tortured during a three-hour ordeal in a Dublin city centre flat has said she feels 'numb' following the sentencing of five men.
Natalie Ennis (38) was taken to a flat in Henrietta House, Dublin 7, over a false accusation about missing drugs, was beaten around the head and body with metal poles, burned with a makeshift blow torch and a heated hammer head, cut with a knife, kicked and punched, had her hair cut off and was threatened with rape.
The men took running jumps at her during the assault last September, threatened to make her drink ammonia and threatened to rape her teenage daughter.
The men were jailed for terms ranging from eight-and-a-half to 14 years on Wednesday.
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After the sentencing hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Ms Ennis, accompanied by her mother, and by David Hall and Siobhan Ferguson of the Sonas domestic violence charity, stood outside the court building as Mr Hall read a statement on her behalf.
After the statement was read, Ms Ennis, asked by a reporter how she felt, replied: 'Numb' and became upset.
In the statement, Mr Hall said Ms Ennis was 'lured, trapped and subject to a level of violence and cruelty that defies belief'.
'This was not an assault, it was torture, deliberate, sustained and devastating.'
Ms Ennis, the statement said, wanted to thank Judge Codd 'for her compassion towards me and her understanding of the horror I was subjected to and for imposing sentences that recognised the gravity of the crimes inflicted upon me'.
She thanked gardaí for their 'incredible' support, noting many believed she would not have survived the assault had gardaí not attended at the flat that same day to serve a warrant by coincidence, 'a fortunate event that most certainly saved Natalie's life.
'Natalie is a survivor but survival comes at a heavy price. Physically, mentally and emotionally. Her life and that of her family has been changed for ever.'
Sonas has supported and worked with Ms Ennis although her case 'does not neatly fit into its purview of domestic violence services', Mr Hall said. Ms Ennis 'has had to fight again and again' for 'basic core supports' to rebuild her life, injury repair, dental care, somewhere safe to live. The system is 'a patchwork of services that often leave women like Natalie behind', he said.
Judge Pauline Codd said Ms Ennis was terrified throughout and thought she was going to die, she said
. The assault ended only when gardaí entered the flat with a search warrant.
The men's 'evil' and 'vile' offences against the woman, including 'violent, sadistic and brutal' assaults occurred against a background of drug criminality, she said.
'There has to be general deterrence to this type of torture,' Judge Codd said.
All of the men were on bail at the time and all had drug abuse issues, including two who were born addicted to drugs, the sentencing hearing was told.
In text messages, one boasted to a friend during the incident they had a 'hostage' and had 'cut her up', to which his unidentified friend replied: 'quality'.
Mobile phone video footage taken inside the flat that day was played, showing the woman bloodied and distressed and a hammer being heated up on a hob.
Ms Ennis was left with a broken eye socket, broken cheekbone, broken nasal bone, broken elbow, burns, dislocated teeth, bruising and lacerations across her head and scalp, among other injuries. She required skin grafts, staples to her scalp, and later had surgery to remove a disc in her back. She spent three weeks in hospital in the immediate aftermath of the assault.
Five of the eight men present that day entered guilty pleas. Another man and a juvenile are still before the courts and the eighth person is not before the courts.
Mark McMahon (55) and his son Mark Keogh (33), along with Braxton Rice (21), all of Henrietta House, Henrietta Place, Dublin 7, along with Sean Conroy (21) of Sillogue Road, Ballymun, and Kian Walshe (22) of Constitution Hill, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault causing harm to the woman at Henrietta House on September 26th, 2024.
A number of other counts against each man relating to the production of articles in the course of an offence were taken into consideration.
Having heard mitigation submissions on behalf of the five men, Judge Codd imposed an effective 12-year sentence on McMahon and nine years on his son, Mark Keogh.
Conroy, whom the judge described as one of the main movers of what was happening in the flat, 'eclipsed only by the actions of Rice', was jailed for an effective 12 years.
Rice, whom the judge noted was identified by the victim as the 'main ringleader or instigator', with Conroy to a lesser degree, was jailed for 14 years. He had questioned the victim about missing drugs, threatened to rape her daughter, beat her, burnt her repeatedly on the legs with a heated hammer and also burned her face and legs.
The judge jailed Walshe for an effective eight-and-a-half years.