Michal Godla attacked a woman from behind during a night-time walk in Longford, repeatedly knocked her down and pulled her back up to strike her again. He threatened to rape her and released his grip only when she pretended to submit. The Slovakian national had lived in Ireland for 21 years, never worked and had four previous convictions.
The Longford park attack
At about 1am on 7 August 2023, the woman went walking in the Albert Reynolds Peace Park in Longford. After passing her, Godla struck her from behind, knocked her down, pulled her upright and punched her back to the ground repeatedly. She pleaded with him and told him she was a mother.
Godla said he wanted to rape her. She escaped by pretending to submit and asking to find her glasses. When he released her to search, she ran.
Medical evidence recorded extensive bruising, injuries to her head, face and body and a brain bleed. She developed PTSD, was deemed unable to return to work for 18 to 24 months and described herself as afraid of her own shadow.
His account and conduct afterward
Godla said he had consumed extremely strong alcohol and cannabis. He told Gardaí he thought the victim was a man attacking him. Judge Kenneth Connolly called that account fiction and stressed that the assault would remain serious regardless of the victim’s sex.
The day after the attack, phone records showed that Godla booked travel to Dublin to give the clothing he had worn to a homeless person. Between the attack and his January 2024 arrest, he twice travelled to Slovakia. He also searched online for the meaning and penalty of assault.
Twenty-one years in Ireland
Godla is a Slovakian national who had lived in Ireland for 21 years and was reported never to have been employed. He received a carer’s allowance while caring for his mother. He had four previous convictions: three drug offences and one public-order offence.
These facts are part of the sentencing record. They do not establish that every social-support payment was improper, nor do they establish his exact EU residence status.
Conviction and sentence
Godla pleaded guilty on a full-facts basis to assault causing harm. The prosecution withdrew the separate threat charge, so this file records the rape threat as part of the admitted factual account and aggravating circumstances, not as a second conviction.
In May 2025 the judge set a four-year eight-month headline, reduced it for mitigation to three years and three months, and refused to suspend any portion because Godla had not addressed his alcohol and cannabis issues or made significant rehabilitation efforts. No reported appeal, transfer or EU residence proceeding was located.
Chronology
- About 2002: Approximate arrival implied by 21-year residence at the time of the offence.
- 7 August 2023: Sustained park attack.
- August 2023–January 2024: Two trips to Slovakia.
- January 2024: Arrest.
- January 2025: Guilty plea.
- 7 May 2025: Three years and three months imposed.
Cost benchmark
The full three-year three-month term at the Irish Prison Service’s 2024 staffed-space average represents a gross capacity benchmark of €321,984. A simple quarter-remission illustration is €241,488.
Questions the State should answer
- What rehabilitation and sexual-violence risk work is required before release?
- Will his EU residence position be reviewed?
- What victim support covers the documented 18-to-24-month inability to work?
- Were the post-offence foreign trips considered in bail and flight-risk decisions?
- What is the verified public-support history and total cost?