Woman who snatched baby from hospital 20 years ago jailed for 'frenzied' knife attack

Sunday World

16-05-2025

A court found that Susan McGovern's fully suspended sentence for a slashing attack on a man she had lured to her apartment was too lenient
A woman who was jailed for snatching a new-born baby from a hospital over 20 years ago is to be returned to prison, after a court found her fully suspended sentence for a 'frenzied' slashing attack on a man she had lured to her apartment was too lenient.
Susan McGovern (44) was today jailed for three years by the Court of Appeal, following submissions by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who argued that the fully suspended four-and-a-half-year sentence she received at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court last year was unduly lenient.
McGovern with a last address at Barker Place apartments, O'Connell Street, Waterford, had pleaded guilty to robbery contrary to Section 14 of the Criminal Justice Theft and Fraud Offences Act, 2001 on May 21, 2022 at her home address. A charge of Section 3 assault was taken into consideration.
She was sentenced by Judge Eugene O'Kelly to four-and-a-half years, suspended in its entirety, on October 10, 2024.
The Court of Appeal heard today that McGovern has a "difficult background", with serious drug addiction issues and has 19 previous convictions, including theft, possession of knives and child abduction.
In 2001, McGovern was jailed for five years after she admitted abducting a newborn baby from a maternity hospital in Cork.
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At the time, McGovern was described as a woman with a 'Walter Mitty-like' quality.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told that McGovern had set up an elaborate plan to abduct a baby which included telling people she was pregnant and buying baby clothes.
Delivering judgement at the three-judge Court of Appeal today, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said McGovern had invited the victim to her home, where she produced and used a carving knife.
She said the respondent then sought to minimise her involvement by making a 'totally unfounded allegation' of a sexual nature in relation to the victim which could only have exacerbated the impact of the incident upon him.
McGovern then maintained this position during her interviews with gardaí and during her engagement with the probation officer, where she not only continued to blame the 'unfortunate victim' but also said she acted in self-defence in grabbing the knife.
Ms Justice Kennedy said there could be no doubt but that this incident was rendered more serious by the use of the knife, which caused injury to the victim's face. It was 'fortunate' that the injury had not been more severe, the judge added.
Quashing McGovern's sentence, Ms Justice Kennedy said the crux of the DPP's application rested with the suspension of the entire term.
She said the court was satisfied that the custody threshold was passed in this case and the suspension of the sentence in full was a 'substantial departure from the norm'.
Ms Justice Kennedy imposed a new term of four-and-a-half years with the final 18 months suspended on the same terms as in the court below.
The sentencing hearing was told that in the early hours of May 21, 2022 gardaí received a call to attend the scene at Barker Place Apartments.
The victim told gardaí that he met McGovern on a night out and walked her home.
Once there, McGovern changed her clothes, and they began kissing but she then put herself between him and the door so he couldn't leave.
The victim said that McGovern started asking him for money and then made two phone calls, which he believed were to her drug dealer. He said he then got up to leave as he wanted nothing to do with it.
The man said McGovern then grabbed a nine-inch knife from the table and asked for money and his credit card. He gave her €28 in cash from his pocket and then called gardaí.
Transcripts from the call set out threats made by McGovern to the victim, whom she refused to allow leave, before making false claims that he was trying to rape her.
The victim told gardaí in a statement: 'I was afraid because she was waving the knife at me. I kept the guard on the loudspeaker so they could hear.
'I was in fear for my life during this ordeal. During this altercation I was struck by the knife on my left cheek, along the jawbone,' he said. The court heard that the victim required stitches inside and outside of his jaw.
When interviewed, McGovern gave a false version of events, claiming she was acting in self-defence when she was attacked and sexually assaulted by the victim. This account was entirely untrue.
McGovern maintained this position when a probation report was prepared, which found her to be at very high risk of reoffending.
McGovern later accepted before the sentencing judge that the allegations of sexual assault were totally unfounded.
The respondent has 19 previous convictions, including a relevant conviction for possession of a knife in the course of a dispute.