Household of mum left paralysed & mind lifeless after vicious assault by ex requires violence towards ladies to be tackled

THE household of a mum who was viciously attacked by her abusive ex-partner and left mind lifeless have known as for violence towards ladies to be tackled urgently.

Joleen Corr died 17 months after Michael O’Connor left her paralysed and in a vegetative state following a brutal assault at her house in Downpatrick, Co Down, in  December 2016.

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Violent thug O’Connor, 36, punched the 27-year-old within the face with such ferocity that he broke her jaw, propelling her down the steps and leaving her with catastrophic mind accidents.

Mum-of-one Joleen died 17 months later after a landmark court docket ruling determined the therapy sustaining her life needs to be withdrawn.

Twisted O’Connor was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimal 16-year time period in July 2020.

ASSAULTS ON EX GIRLFRIENDS

However Joleen’s heartbroken mom Carol in the present day tells the Irish Solar how her beloved daughter was the sufferer of home violence lengthy earlier than the deadly assault.

Carol reveals how O’Connor used bodily and psychological violence as a method of management, not solely in his relationship with Ms Corr, however with earlier companions.

The Irish Solar understands the brute, nicknamed ‘Mickey Dope’, was fuelled by alcohol and medicines when he beforehand assaulted a string of different former girlfriends, with the total extent of his reign of terror rising after the murderous assault on Joleen.

In an emotional interview, grieving mum Carol in the present day requires a brand new technique to take care of gender-based violence, together with more durable sanctions for perpetrators of home violence and those that break court docket orders designed to guard their victims.

Carol, who is backing the Irish Sun’s Call This Out campaign for an finish to violence towards ladies, informed us: “Extra must be performed. Extra must be performed to take care of violence towards ladies.

“Joleen was a sufferer of home abuse for a very long time however she was in worry of him. Many victims are afraid to talk out.

“The system must be checked out. There must be extra help for home abuse victims.”

‘THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER JOLEEN’

Opening up on her ongoing torment, she stated: “Our heads are all away, so they’re.

“Joleen was the oldest of my 5 youngsters. She was a personality. There’ll by no means be one other Joleen. She liked her wee life, she liked her wee boy a lot.

“I’m only a damaged individual and so are my kids. None of us will ever be the identical once more. He might need acquired 16 years, a life sentence, however our life sentence will stick with us till the day we die.”

Tragic Joleen took her final breath on April 26, 2018, as her household sang Over The Rainbow.

‘PURE EVIL’

A jury had been sworn in for O’Connor’s trial, however after years of lies and never responsible pleas, O’Connor did a U-turn after cops constructed the “strongest potential case” towards the sadistic brute — main him to lastly admit his guilt in July 2020.

Choose Geoffrey Miller sentenced O’Connor to a minimal of 16 years earlier than he will be thought-about for parole. Unrepentant O’Connor, who appeared in court docket by way of videolink from jail for sentencing, clapped and rubbed his arms collectively as he discovered his jail stretch destiny.

Branding her daughter’s killer “pure evil”, Carol informed how the coward by no means confirmed his sufferer’s household any regret.

She stated: “He’s simply evil. I might describe him as a psychopath, no coronary heart, no conscience, nothing.

‘NO REMORSE’

“He thought he was solely going to get performed for manslaughter, get performed for a couple of years and be again out on the streets once more.

“He pleaded responsible on the final minute, the primary day of the trial, as soon as the jury was sworn in. The prosecution weren’t having it, manslaughter, after which he pleaded responsible to her homicide.

“He by no means confirmed no regret himself, none by any means, nothing. And when he acquired sentenced he clapped and rubbed his arms.”

A court docket heard an unintentional cellphone name from an ex-boyfriend led to jealous O’Connor propelling harmless Joleen down a flight of stairs.

TRAGIC DEATH

After Joleen acquired the cellphone name from her ex, her possessive and unstable “on-and-off” boyfriend O’Connor went by her cellphone on December 2, 2016.

As they argued on the prime of the steps, O’Connor lashed out, sending the mother-of-one flying downwards the place she landed with devastating and tragic penalties, fracturing her cranium and inflicting her mind to swell.

O’Connor had claimed that after he knocked Joleen down the steps at her house, she had vomited exterior and had been “tottering about” when he went to mattress, claiming that when he awakened, she was in mattress “loud night breathing” beside him.

He additionally falsely claimed Joleen had taken medication and had tried to commit suicide.

HEARTBREAKING DISCOVERY

However regardless of realizing he had knocked her down the steps, O’Connor acquired up the following morning and casually had a shower earlier than getting on the ten.15am bus to Belfast the place he dropped off the couple’s younger son and went for a haircut.

O’Connor, from Westrock Grove in Belfast,  did nothing to assist Joleen till 12.42pm when he known as a neighbour to go and examine on her, claiming she had simply phoned him to say she had “taken a load of tablets”.

The neighbours discovered Joleen mendacity in mattress and when considered one of them felt the again of her head, he stated it felt “like a damaged Easter egg”.

Seeing the state Joleen was in, the neighbour known as O’Connor and requested him, “What did you do to her?”, with the defendant claiming: “I performed nothing to her — she tried to hold herself final night time.”

‘SHAMEFUL’ LIE

However the warped west Belfast man’s account was blasted by a decide as a “shameful” lie and was dismissed by scientific and medical proof, with no medication present in Joleen’s system, no ligature marks, and as a result of severity of her mind damage “she couldn’t have presumably phoned the defendant”.

A court docket heard Joleen’s demise was the results of her being propelled down the steps which triggered a cranium fracture and subdural hematoma.

Along with the deadly damage, Carol in the present day outlines her perception that O’Connor “jumped throughout” his sufferer — and lays naked how Joleen suffered 52 bruises throughout her physique.

Carol stated: “One punch can kill however Joleen had 52 bruises from her neck to her toes, mind injury, damaged jaw, cauliflower ear, she was hit within the ear like a boxer. And a few impacts on her mind, not only one.

‘PIECE OF DIRT ON THE STREET’

“I imagine he jumped throughout Joleen. He tried to say she fell down the steps after which she vomited out the again, however the forensics checked all that out however there was no vomit out the again.

“After which he stated she simply went as much as mattress and acquired into mattress. Then he left her, he left her like a bit of dust on the road, after which he rang me to say, ‘I feel  Joleen has taken an overdose’.

“And he rang the 2 guys saying, ‘Will you go and examine on Joleen, I feel she took an overdose’.

“He left the door and all open they usually went in searching for her, and he or she was up mendacity on the mattress and what they seen, these fellas are nonetheless traumatised to this present day.”

‘It is time for a change in our tradition’

IT’S time for change.

After the surprising demise of 23-year-old instructor Ashling Murphy in Co Offaly, the nation is screaming: Sufficient is sufficient.

It’s time to finish violence towards ladies, the tradition that contributes to it and the on a regular basis misogyny that also exists in some sections of society.

There will be no extra shying away or ignoring the issue.

We’re asking everybody — women and men, younger and outdated — to name out any scenario that makes a girl really feel uncomfortable, disrespected, unequal, to not point out scared, threatened or endangered.

It’s as much as all of us to CALL THIS OUT — whether or not it’s a sexist joke, a throwaway ­remark a few lady’s picture, a lewd look, or something that raises concern for a girl’s security.

It’s solely after we all act collectively that we will make a significant change.

So, please, be part of us and CALL THIS OUT!

FOR extra info or help, contact Ladies’s Help 24/7 on 1800 341 900.

NOT THE FIRST ASSAULT

Highlighting how the killer left Joleen to die, Carol continued: “He left her for any person to seek out her lifeless. He stated she took an overdose however clearly she didn’t. (The neighbours) bumped into the home to seek out her and rang an ambulance.

“Considered one of them described touching the again of her head as like touching a damaged Easter egg. That’s how dangerous she was.”

Carol informed the way it was not the primary time O’Connor had assaulted Joleen, nor was it the primary time the jealous bully had gone by her cell phone.

Joleen, who was a skilled magnificence therapist, had moved from west Belfast to Downpatrick to flee O’Connor after being subjected to a marketing campaign of home violence by her then-partner.

‘SHE NEVER RECOVERED’

Ms Corr’s house in Downpatrick had been fitted with a panic button and O’Connor was breaching a non-molestation order to keep away from the homicide sufferer on the time of the deadly assault.

The devastated Corr household later discovered that O’Connor had beforehand assaulted a string of different girlfriends, with the beast sentenced in 2017 for offences arising from home abuse of a earlier companion.

Carol stated: “He beforehand attacked his companions. However we didn’t know the extent of all of it till Joleen was in intensive care.

‘WORST CASE’ OF INJURIES

“She opened one eye after 5 months, and opened one other eye, however she by no means recovered.

“She lived for 17 months, then the court docket let her move away, she was paralysed.”

Carol added: “The intensive care advisor stated she was the worst case he’d seen in ten years that he’d labored there together with her accidents. And he’d seen motorcycle accidents and automobile accidents. She was dangerous.”

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