34-Year-Old Woman Left Paralyzed, Fighting To Get Even With Male Attackers

A 34-year-old woman from Dublin ended up in a life-changing state after she was shot three times by three men in Dublin back in March 2020.

Sinead Connolly blasted the three men who were behind her current state. She was left paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, miraculously surviving after getting shot in the spine and another through her lung.

She spoke for the first time with the Irish Mirror about her horrific ordeal, lashing out about how the attackers changed her independent life. Connolly also had to go through a horrific ordeal, reaching a point where she was only given an 8% chance to live.

“My life has been a living hell since this all happened and I’m going to be in a wheelchair now for the rest of my life but I’m not going to let them win,” the 34-year-old said. “I’m not a victim as far as I’m concerned, I’m a survivor and I will go on and have a life with my little girl.”

Adjusting to her second chance at a life where Connolly needed a Baclofen Pump fitted and a Mitrofanoff tube fitted, the mother of one is still hoping that medical procedures can help ease her burden.

“My body is spasming all the time and I am not able to go to the toilet unaccompanied. I’m appealing to the Minister for Health to intervene and help me get the procedures I need,” Connolly quipped.

Hoping that things look up, the 34-year-old plans to train as a counselor so that she can help other women who have been victims of violence.

“I want to train to be a counsellor and go back and work at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire,” she added.

The three men behind the attack were identified as Dean McCarthy, Joseph Byrne and Paul Mooney. All were handed different sentences, getting 15, 9 ½ and 5 years of jail time respectively.

According to Connolly, the punishment that the three male attackers got was not adequate considering the state she was left in.

“They changed the way I will have to live my life but they will not take my future,” Connolly stated.