Six-year sentence imposed for stabbing former friend repeatedly over bet on horse

A man has been jailed for six years for stabbing a former friend seven times over a bet on a horse while he was on bail for an attack on his ex-partner.Mark Conway’s latest sentence, handed down on Friday, is to run consecutively to a five-year, three-month sentence imposed in January.The 40-year-old father of two from Athlone sliced his victim’s liver, resulting in emergency surgery and the removal of his gallbladder, Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court heard.The wounded man recalled being stabbed from head to waist.READ MOREConway pleaded guilty to causing serious harm, and other charges connected to the knife attack on March 1st, 2025.Gardaí arrived to find blood trails from the stab victim leading to each man’s home, in Marine View, Athlone, Co Westmeath.Judge Keenan Johnson previously said the accused had “Jekyll and Hyde characteristics, passive when sober, and when he is drunk, he is a menace, violent and a thug”.He was jailed in January for an attack on his ex-girlfriend, who later fled the country.Conway appeared again on Friday to be sentenced for the stabbing when the judge noted the level of premeditation used. He imposed a seven-year sentence but suspended the final 12 months with conditions including no contact with the victim or his family for five years.The judge recalled the evidence that Conway had tried to blame the victim for the violence until he was shown incriminating CCTV evidence.He later said he was sorry in court.The judge said Conway’s victim was justified in his actions in self-defence and praised the first responders who likely saved his life.Garda Jennifer Cassells said gardaí found the injured man bleeding heavily in his home, where he lived with his partner and their children.A garda applied pressure to a wound on his abdomen. There was a significant amount of blood on his couch and in the hallway.Gardaí learned that the victim and Conway had been friends who had been drinking together and had jointly placed a €20 bet on a horse over the previous days. They later argued over the money.At 9.45pm on the date of the attack, Conway turned up at his friend’s home and banged the door with a pole, demanding: “I want my f**king money.”The victim became irate, came out, and the accused came at him with the pole, but the victim disarmed him. He went back inside but went out again with the pole when Conway returned.This time Conway had a shovel and a flick knife, and during the row he stabbed the man seven times in the abdomen and arm, the court heard. CCTV from a nearby house was played in court.However, the injured man and his partner furnished victim-impact statements expressing how they feel unsafe and suffer flashbacks.His partner said: “There was blood everywhere like you would see in a movie.”The man lost consciousness and was taken to hospital, where he underwent keyhole surgery.Both he and his partner have post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the attack, the judge heard.Conway began drinking from the age of 14 after his mother died and later he also began abusing medication. He admitted he could not hold down a job and had been in employment for at most one year of his life. He had 26 prior convictions, which included assault, public order, criminal damage, burglary, theft and knife possession.