A Donegal man stabbed 17 times in a frenzied attack suffered such horrific injuries that ambulance personnel were unable to tell if he was male or female.
Kristian Shortt spent several days in intensive care after being set upon by Kenneth Broe on a night out in Letterkenny.
Broe, of Alderwood Green, Springfield, Tallaght, will be sentenced on Wednesday for the assault on Mr Shortt a decade ago.
Dressed in a black suit and grey tie, Broe listened intently as the details of the savage assault were recalled at Letterkenny Circuit Court on Thursday.
The court heard how Kristian Shortt had gone out for dinner with some female friends on the evening of October 8 2008.
He then fell in with Kenneth Broe who he had known previously and the two men ended up in Voodoo Night Club.
From Voodoo, they went on to the flat of a third man, Damien O’Connor, at Upper Main Street, Letterkenny. Footage taken from CCTV cameras showed the two men leave the club at around 2.30am.
While in Mr O’Connor’s, Broe and Mr Shortt had words and began squaring up to each other. Things quickly calmed however and Kristian Shortt believed any differences between him and the defendant were settled. But as he went to get his jacket to leave, Kenneth Broe attacked him with a pair of scissors. He stabbed him repeatedly about the chest, neck and back, causing him life threatening injuries.
Following the attack Damien O’Connor rang the emergency services and in court on Thursday it was revealed that when ambulance crews arrived they were unable to immediately establish the Mr Shortt’s gender due to the extent of his injuries.
Further CCTV footage was examined and showed Kenneth Broe heading away from the flat in the minutes after the attack, this time with staining on the tracksuit he was wearing whereby earlier it had been clean.
The defendant went to friend’s house in Letterkenny and during investigations a female witness told gardai how she had been asked to come to the house by another male. While there Broe admitted to her that he had given someone a beating. She was also asked to go to Penney’s and pick up some clean clothes for the defendant.
The female witness also revealed that in the house the radio was playing and a report came on Highland Radio of a stabbing in the early hours.
“He looked visibly shocked,” she said of the defendant.
Before gardai could get to Broe to arrest him, he and two other men fled in a car. Gardai followed them but could not get the vehicle stopped before it reached the border. The car was pulled in at Monaghan however and he was arrested. During a follow up search cocaine with a street value of €1,100 was found on the defendant.
During interview Broe continually denied stabbing anyone. When shown the bloody scissors used in the attack, he replied, “It looks horrible, that’s not me.”
Letterkenny Circuit Court heard how in the aftermath of the frenzied knife attack Kristian Shortt was rushed to Letterkenny Hospital. But due to the severity of his wounds, including a slice to the jugular vein, he had to be transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin. He had to be resuscitated twice as doctors battled to save his life.
He spent several days in hospital before being released. Garda Harvey Maughan told the court that in the decade since the assault, Kristian Shortt has made a full recovery.
Letterkenny courthouse where Kenneth Broe will be sentenced on Wednesday.
Defending Broe is senior counsel Colman Fitzgerald.
He told the court that at the time of the stabbing his client was living a “fairly chaotic lifestyle, one characterised by alcohol and cocaine abuse”.
On why Broe had decided to take the case against him all the way to trial, Mr Fitzgerald said his client had found it difficult to come to terms with the fact he had stabbed someone.
“He was shocked and in disbelief that he was capable of doing that,” the barrister said.
Mr Fitzgerald added however that the attack took place ten years ago and that the man before the court on Thursday was “very different” to the Kenneth Broe of 2008.
Handing in a large number of references, Colman Fitzgerald said there had been a “large and significant change” in the defendant in the years since.
One of the references was from the owner of Dublin boxing club who revealed how Kenneth Broe has been helping out and training young people in his spare time.
“There has been a change in his entire approach to life,” the court was told.
The barrister added that Kenneth Broe was well aware he was going to prison for a long time for stabbing Kristian Shortt but pressed again how far the defendant has come in his life in the years since.
Referring back to the night of October 8 2008, Mr Fitzgerald added, “This was a night on the town which unfortunately ended up a night of tragedy.”
Judge John Aylmer adjourned the case until Wednesday when Broe will be sentenced.
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