A woman who slashed another woman’s face in a “moment of madness or jealousy”, leaving her permanently disfigured, has been given a six year sentence.

Kinsi Abdullah Dirir (33) was convicted of assault causing serious harm to mother-of-five Habiba Songolo (40) at a house on Foxborough Rise, Lucan, Co Dublin on May 17th, 2008.

Dirir had denied the charge at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, however she admitted causing criminal damage to a car outside the house on the same day.

Dirir, who was born in Somalia and came to Ireland aged six, has no previous convictions. A probation report put her at high risk of re-offending.

The court heard the attack happened after Dirir discovered that her former husband was in a relationship with the victim.

Dirir, a mother-of-three of Hollybrook Park, Clontarf, was acquitted by a jury of carrying a razor blade on the same occasion.

Judge Desmond Hogan said the victim had suffered very serious injuries and continued to suffer traumatic effects, bordering on depression.

He suspended the final 18 months of the sentence for four years, after hearing Dirir’s family had offered the sum of €2,000 as compensation to the victim.

Judge Hogan took into account Dirir’s long history of mental illness and ordered that she receive appropriate medication in custody.