Betty O’Loughlin regularly walked her dog along Brydges Street in east London every morning. But in the early hours of Aug. 19, 2024, the 78-year-old was viciously attacked and stabbed six times by a complete stranger. At the sentencing hearing at the London Courthouse on Monday, Justice Michael Carnegie told the court as she rushed home to her apartment, “She went to change her clothes and realized she was covered in blood.” The court heard after the incident she never really left her apartment and kept to herself. O’Loughlin survived the random attack but unfortunately died a year later from complications not related to the stab wounds. Last December, Cristefer Young-Hough, a 34-year-old with a history of mental health issues and substance abuse plead guilty to aggravated assault as well as assault causing bodily harm after he subsequently punched a corrections office in the face while in custody at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London. Suffering from schizophrenia, Justice Carnegie told the court that in the moments after his arrest by London Police, he boasted about the incident. “He commented that he had stabbed a little old lady and that it had been so easy,” Carnegie said. The judge said he also asked, “What took you so long?” Young-Hough told his mother in a text message, “I figured if the system was frame me for stabbing someone, I might as well go out and stab someone.” The court heard he has lived in several shelters over the years and has a lengthy criminal record. Justice Carnegie sentenced Young-Hough to a total of six years for both attacks. With credit for time served, he has about 32 months left to serve in prison. He has is prohibited from carrying any weapons, including firearms, for life.
