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Pedro Cifali: tracking device, disguise and a planned murder attempt

After his relationship with Lucia Nezbalova ended, Pedro Cifali hid an electronic tracker beneath her car, followed her in a blonde wig and waited outside her home with a knife. A doctor arriving nearby kept Nezbalova alive after the attack.

Published 31 July 2026 · Remigration Ireland case ledger
20 yearsHeadline sentence
16 yearsSentence imposed
12 monthsSuspended
15 yearsImmediate custody

Surveillance before the attack

Cifali and Nezbalova had been partners and were the parents of a daughter. Their relationship ended in April 2024. Afterwards, Cifali placed an electronic tracking device beneath the bumper of Nezbalova’s car.

On 10 May, CCTV recorded his distinctive blue work van arriving at a Blanchardstown garage minutes after her. He followed her to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and parked about 100 metres from her car. He wore a baseball cap pulled low, a blonde wig and had lightened his beard. Members of the public thought he was acting suspiciously and told security that he appeared to have a knife.

Cifali left before security found him. He travelled to Nezbalova’s home at Garnish Square, Waterville, and waited for her.

The knife attack at her front door

When Nezbalova arrived, Cifali approached and said he only wanted to talk. He then produced the knife and stabbed her in the neck, behind the ear, in the back of the head, abdomen and arms. She suffered defensive wounds to her face and hands.

The abdominal wound was so severe that her organs were visible. Doctors described her injuries as life-threatening. Her survival depended on what the court called extraordinary good luck: a doctor living nearby arrived home, heard the screams and kept her alive until an ambulance came.

Cifali fled in his van. The next morning he telephoned a Garda station, agreed to surrender and admitted the stabbing in interview.

Permanent damage

Nezbalova told the court that she lives with constant pain, restricted mobility, permanent scars, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and depression. She requires further surgery and struggles with ordinary tasks. She also said she returned to work before fully healing because she had become the sole provider for her children.

The judge found the attempted murder was unprovoked and premeditated. Jealousy about Nezbalova’s new relationship formed part of the motive. The tracking, disguise, knife and decision to wait outside her home demonstrated planning rather than a spontaneous confrontation.

Conviction and sentence

Cifali pleaded guilty to attempted murder. Further charges concerning harassment by stalking and producing a knife were taken into consideration; they are not misreported here as separate convictions.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon selected a 20-year headline. The principal mitigation was the guilty plea and absence of previous convictions. On 9 February 2026, the court imposed 16 years with the final 12 months suspended on probation conditions. That leaves 15 years of immediate custody, backdated to 15 May 2024.

The sentencing reports disagree about Cifali’s age, describing him as either 37 or 39 in February 2026. This file does not resolve the discrepancy without a primary identity record.

Nationality and immigration limits

Court reports identify Cifali as Brazilian and give a former address in Blanchardstown. They do not establish when or how he entered Ireland, his precise immigration permission, an asylum history, a deportation decision or a removal outcome. None is inferred.

Chronology

Public-cost benchmark

Fifteen nominal years of immediate custody at the Irish Prison Service’s 2024 average annual cost of an available, staffed prison space, €99,072, produce a gross benchmark of approximately €1,486,080.

This is arithmetic, not a Cifali-specific invoice. Actual cost depends on credited custody, remission, release arrangements and future annual rates. It excludes emergency treatment, surgery, rehabilitation, Garda work, prosecution, courts, legal aid and the lasting financial and personal cost to Nezbalova and her family. No case-specific totals were published.

Sources

Record checked: 31 July 2026. No published appeal or immigration-enforcement outcome was located. The age discrepancy in final reports is preserved rather than silently resolved.