04-07-2025
Cork man jailed for threatening to stab woman and children before stealing car from their driveway
A man fixated on stealing a car broke into a house armed with a knife and threatened to stab a woman and her young children putting them through a terrifying ordeal.
38-year-old Patrick Heaphy, who was living at an address at Riverside Wharf at the time of the crime, was sentenced on Friday to three-and-a-half years in prison with the last year suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
The accused man expressed shame at his own actions and could not believe he had made such violent threats in the woman's house in the Cobh area on the night of November 11, 2024.
Patrick Heaphy got a taxi to the house and entered it while carrying a knife, announcing on his arrival: 'I will stab ye all.' He insisted on knowing who owned the cars in the driveway and demanded the car keys.
Ultimately, he was given a set of keys, drove away in the particular Skoda Octavia and crashed it into a pole. He was arrested following the arrival of emergency services.
He was highly intoxicated on the night. While he had serious previous convictions he had been working and staying out of trouble but his life spiraled out of control with his reaction to the death of his partner. As a result, he lost his job and lost his home.
When informed by gardaí about exactly what he said and did in the house during the aggravated burglary he was shaking his head in disbelief. He apologised for his behaviour. He said he wanted to acknowledge his wrongdoing to the woman and her children and did not ask for forgiveness.
On the night, the woman shouted upstairs to her children to lock themselves in their rooms. There was no physical altercation, apart from the threat he made to stab everyone.
Judge Behan said the incident happened in a family home where the woman and her children had a right to feel safe and secure.
