Woman lost sight in eye after ‘stiletto’ kick in nightclub

An Ennis woman lost the sight of her left eye after receiving the kick of a stiletto heel during a fight with another woman at a nightclub in the Co Clare town two years ago.

In the incident shown on CCTV at Ennis Circuit Court on Wednesday, Jennifer Ziemann’s stiletto heel made contact with Katie Kenneally’s left eye and perforated her eye-ball when she kicked out at Ms Kenneally in the early hours of May 6th 2018.

The footage shows how the two had got into an altercation in the outdoor area of the Queen’s nightclub and both ended up on the ground.

A bouncer employed by the nightclub grabbed Ms Ziemann (26) of Parnell Street, Ennis while others took hold of Ms Kenneally (21) and the two were separated.

However, when Ms Kenneally made a lunge for Ms Ziemann, Ms Ziemann kicked out with her stiletto resulting in the “catastrophic” injury for Ms Kenneally.

The altercation described by Judge Gerald Keys as “relatively minor” between the two, only lasted a number of seconds.

Loss of brother

The injury sustained by Ms Kenneally came just under four weeks before she lost her younger brother, Jack (15), in a tragic double drowning in a disused quarry outside Ennis.

Mother-of-one Ms Ziemann has pleaded guilty to assault causing harm of Ms Kenneally. In court counsel for Ms Ziemann, Michael Collins SC said the incident has had “the most profound and appalling consequences for Katie Kenneally”.

In her victim impact statement read out in court, Ms Kenneally said she constantly worries about losing sight in her other eye. Ms Kenneally was in court supported by family members.

She stated the vision in her left eye “will never come back and I find that very hard to deal with”. Ms Kenneally said: “I struggle to look at myself in the mirror as it’s a constant reminder of what happened that night and I will never be able to forget it.”

Anxiety and panic

Ms Kenneally stated she that now suffers from anxiety and panic attacks as a result of what happened and had to leave her brother, Jack’s funeral “as the crowds were too much for me”.

Ms Kenneally required surgery on her eye after the attack and she was left in severe pain. She said for months after she had to wear sunglasses even indoors as the light irritated her eyes.

Mr Collins said Ms Ziemann apologises for what occurred. He stated that in the immediate aftermath when the extent of Ms Kenneally’s injury became known , Ms Ziemann “was appalled and never intended such a consequence to occur”.

Mr Collins said it was never Ms Ziemann’s intention “to hurt, inflict injury or to maim”.

Mr Collins argued that Ms Ziemann’s culpability was at the lower end of the scale due to the way the night unfolded.Mr Collins asked Judge Keys to give Ms Ziemann a chance as she “is not a bad person”.

Judge Keys reserved judgment and remanded Ms Ziemann on continuing bail to April 28th for sentence.