Sinn Fein TD Pauline Tully has told how she’s still haunted by the horror attack in which she was stabbed 13 times by her ex-husband Pearse McAuley who walked free from prison yesterday.
The brute, 57, served just over seven years for the savage knife assault on Pauline at her Cavan home on Christmas Eve in 2014 when their two young sons were in the house.
The former Provo had been previously jailed for the killing of Det Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996 – a crime that shocked the country.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror following McAuley’s release from Castlerea prison in Co Roscommon early yesterday morning, Ms Tully said she hopes he will now leave her and her family alone.
She said: “I’m determined that I and my children will just get on with our lives as normal.
“I presume that he will leave us alone according to the terms of the barring order that’s in place and my life and the life of the boys won’t be affected in any way.
“I am determined that my life won’t change, and we’ll get on with our lives and that he will do the same.
“He has infringed on it enough.”
Ms Tully said it’s hard not to think back to the trauma she suffered that day in her own home.
But she said as time goes on, it becomes easier and she is hoping her ex-husband “will respect my right to get on with my life”.
She added: “I have no control over his actions so I just presume enough time has passed since he was sentenced that he would have moved on in his life as well, and he will be released and get a new life for himself and move on and leave us to our lives.
“We’re not going to change, we have happy lives and we intend that to continue.”
And the Sinn Fein TD for Cavan-Monaghan urged women not to hesitate ringing gardai if they feel threatened.
Ms Tully said: “I’m particularly conscious that many women in similar circumstances as myself haven’t had the luxury of a seven-and-a-half year gap from the person in that the sentences are often very, very short, only a matter of months or a year or two.
“I want to encourage women to make sure that they have a barring order in place and while they get on with their lives just to be vigilant and not to be afraid to ring the guards if they suspect anything suspicious or feel threatened in any way either verbally, physically or in any other way.”
McAuley walked out of jail shortly after 8am and was whisked away in a Northern-registered white Ford Kuga.
The driver who picked him up, and was waiting for him for around an hour, wore a hat and a neck warmer pulled up over his nose and under his eyes, covering his face.
McAuley came out wearing a face mask, black sunglasses and a baseball cap turned backwards. He also had two holdall bags with him, and had put on considerable weight since he was jailed for 12 years, with four suspended, for the brutal assault in 2015.
The one-time Provo terrorist first hit the headlines in 1991 following an infamous jail-break from Brixton prison in London.
Sources have said McAuley worked in the prisoner reception area while in Castlerea prison.
On the day of the savage attack he had been due to take his two young sons for lunch on Christmas Eve in 2014 but showed up at Ms Tully’s house early and violently attacked her, stabbing her 13 times.
He told her two sons to say goodbye to their mother during the attack.
Brave Ms Tully managed to flee her house when drunk McAuley fell asleep.
But he woke up and tried to continue the attack while she was trying to escape in a car.
Neighbours came to her aid after they spotted her bloodied on the road and McAuley was arrested. The thug, originally from Strabane, Co Tyrone, had earlier been convicted before the Special Criminal Court in 1999 of Det Jerry McCabe’s manslaughter and jailed for 14 years.
He was shot dead and his partner Det Garda Ben O’Sullivan left wounded and critically ill when an IRA gang opened fire on their car as they were providing an armed escort for a van delivering money to a
post office in Adare, Co Limerick, in June, 1996.
McAuley was released in 2009 after serving his sentence. In 2003, he was granted temporary release from Castlerea prison to marry Ms Tully.
When asked previously why she married him, she said they “struck up” a relationship during her time as a Sinn Fein councillor.
She had been visiting a republican prisoner at Castlerea prison when she met McAuley.
Years later – in 2014 – the TD secured a barring order after McAuley became physically violent before the knife attack.
Speaking previously to the Irish Mirror prior to his release,
Ms Tully said: “The incident went on for about two-and-a-half hours.
“He stabbed me about 13 times and tried to cut my throat.
“The first stab wound was quite deep and I could hear it had punctured my lung and there was air coming out and I obviously didn’t know what that meant but there was a lot of blood.
“I had a lot of defensive wounds on my hands and then he stabbed me in the abdomen and in the back.
“He told the boys to stay upstairs but then he brought them down to say goodbye to me but he wouldn’t let them hug me, or come near me.
“They were really upset.
“The wounds came really close to severing vital organs but it was just luck none were damaged.”
- If you are suffering domestic abuse, Women’s Aid runs a 24-hour national freephone helpline on 1800 341 900.
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