Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info
A woman who was brutally tortured by five men says the system has left her behind – while it supplies her attackers with counselling.
Brave survivor Natalie Ennis, 37, was beaten to the head and body with a metal pole, burned with a blow torch and heated hammer, cut with a knife, punched, kicked and had her hair cut off – and was threatened with rape. Five thugs were jailed to between eight-and-a-half and 14 years in prison this week for the brutal attack – but now Natalie has hit out at the fact that she has yet to receive any counselling – yet her attackers have.
“They have all got psychiatrists in prison, which I don’t agree with, where they’ve got their psychiatrist and they are all well looked after but I’m left behind as a victim,” she told RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime Programme on Thursday. Mark Keogh, 33, Mark McMahon, 55 and Braxton Rice, 21, all of Henrietta House, Henrietta Place, Dublin 7, along with Sean Conroy, 21, of Sillogue Road, Ballymun and Kian Walshe, 22, of Constitution Hill, Dublin 7, all pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault causing harm to her at Henrietta House on September 26, 2024.
Ms Ennis also spoke in harrowing detail about the horrific attack she was subjected to – and how she believed she was going to die. “He had a can of Nivea deodorant and a lighter and he kept coming at me into my face with it and then he got all my legs with it as well.
“And then, as he was doing that, there were doors behind the chair I was sitting on. So they were coming behind the doors and whacking me with steel poles, batons, hatchets. I got a hatchet into the head as well. Then they were coming at speed, running, doing flying kicks and hitting me. That’s how I lost my teeth. I’ve a good few missing teeth,” she said.
“They were standing on my face as well while they got me on the floor, standing all over my body. I had to get a disc removed from my back and all and some of my spine bone carved, and then I had a blow-out elbow as well from blocking myself. They were just hitting me with steel poles and heated poles.
“I was conscious at all times the blood was pumping from my face and my elbow. They were laughing. They were ordering chippers. They were going to shops to get drinks. They were acting like it was normal. They didn’t see any of this as we think she’s gonna die like.
“I don’t know how I didn’t, I’m being honest with you. I was getting flashbacks to the birth of my own daughter. So that’s how I think that I was nearly gone.”
Speaking about how she is doing in the wake of the attack – as she waits to finally get help from the State – she said: “I’m physically and mentally not normal anymore. They ruined my life basically. With the help of Sonas, I’d be lost without them, only for them and the guards that came through the door that night, I was gone. I’m waiting to see a psychiatrist since last year.”
David Hall, CEO of Sonas, the largest provider of domestic abuse services in Ireland, said the system had let Natalie down. “It’s been a very difficult and challenging time. She’s had difficulties sleeping, nightmares, normal stuff you’d expect. But the help that’s needed for that and the respect that’s not been shown by the system is the issue at hand now,” he said.
Mr Hall has been trying to secure Ms Ennis housing – and says only in the wake of a radio interview he did on Thursday morning did he finally have luck in getting a response from a local authority on the matter – 10 months on. “You’ve two local authorities and one of them only responded this morning after the Morning Ireland interview, remarkably, which is how the system works. This is how Ireland works. There’s no attention being given to how victims find themselves in these circumstances,” he said.Mr Hall said there has been a “lot of lip service” but little action taken to help victims.
“It is quite difficult to watch in court. The defendants are perfectly entitled to have their five solicitors, junior counsel senior counsel, various references and reports, mental health reports, but it is a broken system where five defendants pleading guilty to a horrific crime have access to the process sooner than Natalie has had. So that is an abject failure of the system and proves categorically that a lot of lip service has been given to protecting and helping women and supporting victims,” he said.
Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage.
