A man has pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and attacking an ex-girlfriend, in which he bit her face and buttocks, and possessing a loaded machine gun at home.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said he had also thrown her beloved late grandmother’s ashes into a fire and sent her a video of it.
Willie Woodland (31), of Shanabooly Road, Ballynanty, Co Limerick, committed the offences while wanted for breaching the terms of the suspended portion of a six-year sentence for a 2018 firearms conviction.
During one of the unprovoked attacks on the woman, Woodland burgled her home armed with a knife, bit her on the neck, face and back, and stole her phone, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard.
In another attack, he bit her on her buttocks while trying to steal her phone in another jealous rage.
Woodland had pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman on two separate occasions: in June and September 2023, as well as aggravated burglary with a knife at the woman’s home, attempted theft and theft of her phone.
The woman wrote in a victim impact statement that Woodland “manipulated” her and “isolated” her from her loved ones.
She said he tried to “control” her even after they split up, which she said forced her to obtain a court protection order against him.
“He entered my home with vengeance, when we weren’t even still together. He pinned me down and he bit me like I was some sort of animal,” the woman said.
“It was a toxic relationship. He threatened me and my family and said he was going to shoot me dead,” she said, adding that he followed her grandmother with a knife.
Gardaí found a loaded machine gun and 18 rounds of ammunition when they raided Woodland’s home
The woman said she had to retreat to a women’s shelter to get away from Woodland.
When gardaí raided Woodland’s home on September 3rd, 2024, they found a loaded machine gun, 18 rounds of ammunition, €1,000 cash and €6,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis.
The seized machine gun was capable of firing 25 rounds in automatic mode. It could also be fired in semi-automatic mode, gardaí told the court.
Gardaí said the gun was loaded with 15 rounds when found.
During interviews with gardaí, following his arrest, Woodland identified himself in a Snapchat video he had shared posing with the gun and pulling the trigger when the gun’s magazine clip was empty.
Woodland accepted responsibility for the gun and drugs but would not disclose who he had sold him the weapon. He later told gardaí he did not intend to harm anyone with the gun and that he was given €1,000 to hold it for an unidentified party. The court heard he said he was storing the gun because he felt threatened and feared for his life.
Woodland has pleaded guilty to possession of the submachine-gun, ammunition, possession of the drugs for sale or supply, simple possession of the drugs, and a money-laundering charge in respect of the €1,000 cash seized.
Woodland also pleaded guilty to possessing almost €10,000 worth of stolen goods that were robbed by others, not him, from homes in Adare and Rathkeale in May 2021.
Woodland committed all of the above offences while on bail and in breach of his suspended sentence for the 2018 firearms offences.
Brian McInerney SC accepted his client was “offending while on bail”. He asked the court to take into account Woodland’s guilty pleas and his “long-standing” drug addiction.
Woodland, he said, “instructs me he is remorseful, particularly to the young lady”, and acknowledges he will receive a prison sentence, Mr McInerney said.
Judge Colin Daly remanded Woodland to Portlaoise Prison for sentencing on November 16th.