'Brutal' criminal who bit ex-girlfriend and kept machine gun in home, jailed

Sentencing, Judge Colin Daly said the accused, Willie Woodland (31), of Shanabooly Road, Ballinanty, carried out the "savage" and "vile" attack on his ex-girlfriend after her relationship with him ended.

Woodland committed the gun and assault, as well as other crimes, while on the run for a year and wanted by gardaí for breaching the terms of a suspended sentence he received in connection with a 2018 firearms offence.

Judge Daly told Woodland's sentencing hearing at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court that on September 3, 2024, gardaí searched Woodland's family home on Shanabooly Road, Ballinanty, Limerick, and recovered a loaded machine gun, 18 rounds of ammunition, €6,000 worth of cocaine, cannabis and €1,000 in cash, which Woodland admitted to being the proceeds of crime.

Gardaí told the court that when they recovered the gun, a 9x18mm Makarov-caliber Re-PM63 submachine gun, it had 15 rounds loaded.

Woodland also admitted that he had filmed himself with the gun when it was unloaded, pulled the trigger, and shared it on Snapchat.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition, possessing drugs for sale or supply, and possessing 1,000 euros in cash obtained through criminal activity.

Woodland also admitted assaulting his former girlfriend twice, entering her home with a knife, attempting to steal her mobile phone, and robbing her.

Judge Daly said that during the first unprovoked attack in June 2023, Woodland “followed” the woman, “knocked her to the ground, pulled down her tracksuit bottoms and bit her on her rear”.

The judge said in the second attack, in September 2023, Woodland burgled the woman’s home, “approached her in a violent manner, took her in a bear-hug, pulled a knife from his pocket and bit on the face, neck and back”.

Judge Daly said the victim was terrified and “she thought she would be killed”.

When Woodland left the home, the woman contacted the Gardaí and obtained a court protection order against him.

The court was told that forensic tests of swabs taken by Gardaí from the woman's bite marks revealed Woodland's DNA.

Judge Daly described Woodland's actions as "grossly offensive" and "barbaric."

“He put his hands down her pants, he bit her three times, in the face, neck and back, which should be considered sadistic,” the judge said.

Woodland also showed the woman video footage of him throwing a locket containing her late grandmother's ashes into a fire, causing her further distress.

In a victim impact statement read in court on her behalf, the victim said: “He entered my home with vengeance, when we weren't even still together, he pinned me down and he bit me like some sort of animal.”

“He threatened me and my family and said he was going to shoot me dead. It was nasty, he was wishing chance on my nana, and he followed my 69-year old nana with a knife.”

“He’d ring me multiple times, it got physical to the point where it began to be normal.”

The victim said she eventually found refuge, away from Woodland, in a woman’s shelter.

Judge Daly said Woodland “involved himself in organised criminality” and the sale of drugs, in respect of having the loaded submachine gun, cocaine and cannabis.

Woodland also pleaded guilty in court to possessing stolen goods worth €10,000, which were stolen by others during a string of burglaries at homes in County Limerick while he was on the run from gardaí.

Woodland, who has several previous convictions, received seven years in prison for firearms and ammunition-related offenses and a consecutive six-year sentence for aggravated burglary, in which he cut his ex-girlfriend and stole her phone. The final 18-month sentence was suspended.

The sentence was pre-determined for September 5, 2024, when he was arrested and remanded in custody.

Woodland also received concurrent sentences for the other offenses mentioned above.

The judge said he would decide in two weeks whether to revoke the suspended sentence imposed on Woodland in 2018 for a firearms-related offense, which he violated while committing the other crimes.