Posted by Updated / Monday, 16 Feb 2026 15:48
A 64-year-old man who poured boiling water over his sleeping wife and struck her several times with a claw hammer at their home in Cork city has been jailed for eight years.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court Judge Dermot Sheehan told Noel Twomey of Carbery Grove, in Knocknaheeny in Cork city that what he did to his wife, Jackie, impacted her not just physically, but had also caused “significant psychological trauma”.
Speaking afterward, Ms Twomey said she was happy with the jail sentence, nine years with one suspended, but felt it was not enough.
“If he had done the hammer first, I would not have survived. He did the water first – that woke me up screaming like a banshee, and that’s how I was able to get up. If he done the hammer first, one blow I could have been dead,” she said.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court previously heard that Twomey was arrested by gardaí near his home in the early hours of 15 January 2024 “soaked in blood and in possession of a blood stained hammer in a plastic bag”.
Later that year, he pleaded guilty to two counts of serious assault causing harm to his wife Jackie, and one count of producing a claw hammer, at their family home.
The 59-year-old mother of three said in her in her victim impact statement that what he did to her was “beyond cruel and evil” and changed her life forever.
“He poured the boiling water on me and hit me a number of times over the head with the hammer. He didn’t seem to care about the damage he was doing to me”, she said.
“I thought I was going to die”.
The court was told the attack left Ms Twomey with a dent in her head, a 3.5mm long scar, and second degree burns over 11% of her body and it was “down to happenstance that she didn’t suffer serious cranial injuries”.
Sentencing had been adjourned a number of times over the past two years in an effort by the defence to secure a psychiatric report on Twomey ahead of sentencing.
Defence Senior Counsel Seamus Roche told Judge Dermot Sheehan today that once again they had been unable to secure a psychiatric report in this case and were at an impasse.
He was aware that Twomey’s wife Jackie was anxious for the case to proceed.
All that was available, he said, was a short medical report which indicated that Twomey had depression, a history of psychosis following fits and autism.
He asked the court to take into account Twomey’s behaviour on that night.
“It had not been seen before, it was out of character, this must inform the court as to his mental wellbeing, these are not the actions of a rational man,” Mr Roche said.
Mr Roche said Twomey’s solicitor Shane Collins Daly has had a number of interactions with Twomey and instructed him that he is “a man under some psychological pressure”.
“He is now being confined to his own cell and cannot mix with others because of his behaviour and mentality, which should be addressed but isn’t being,” Mr Roche told Judge Sheehan.
Mr Roche said his client wanted to apologise to his wife.
He said in a letter addressed to her by Twomey, that Twomey said that what happened was out of character.
“I have been in jail for over a year and a half and it is scary. I have had a lot of time to reflect. I am deeply remorseful and want to apologise to my wife again,” Twomey wrote.
Judge Sheehan said Ms Twomey had no opportunity of defending herself in any way because she was woken out of her sleep. She was in hospital for six days, was badly injured and has significant psychological trauma.
He said a headline sentence of 12 years would be appropriate given the level of premeditation with the boiling kettle and the weapon.
He said an aggravating factor was that he attacked his wife in her own home where she should have felt safe.
But there were mitigating factors including the fact that Twomey made a full admission to gardaí and had pleaded guilty.
Judge Sheehan sentenced him to nine years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended on condition that he keeps the peace and be of good behaviour.
He is also not to have any direct or indirect contact with his wife for a period of 12 years.
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