Man found guilty of killing friend during argument

A YOUNG Dublin man has been found guilty of killing his friend during an argument in Irishtown last year.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court took four hours to reach a unanimous verdict, finding Mark Green, aged 20, of Tritonville Road, Sandymount, Dublin, not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Alan Young, 19, of George Reynolds House, Ringsend, at or near Bremen Road, Irishtown, Dublin, on March 11 last year. Mr Young was found near Irishtown sports stadium with a stab wound in his chest.

During the seven-day trial, the court heard that Mark Green and Alan Young had been friends for most of their lives, but that tensions developed between them over the weekend of the killing.

On the Saturday night, Green was in friend David McKeever’s house before leaving to drink a pint at the Irishtown House pub.

Alan Young was there with Eoin Deeney. The court heard that Green was “slapped in the face” by Mr Young and that he left the pub, returning to McKeever’s house, where he told his friend David that he was annoyed and “sick of everybody starting on him in Ringsend”. David McKeever told the jury that Green was “a softie” and was “always getting picked on”.

Later there was another altercation between Mr Young and Green. Witnesses told the court they saw Mr Young turn toward them, holding his hand to the left side of his chest and saying: “He’s after stabbing me.”

Green was seen standing with a knife in his hand before he ran back toward McKeever’s house. Mr Young had received one stab wound to the left side of the chest. He died shortly after.

The court heard that Green approached gardaí shortly afterward and told them that he was responsible for the stabbing.

A recording of interviews conducted between gardaí and Green at Donnybrook Garda Station in the hours after the killing was shown to the jury. Green was seen telling gardaí that he “didn’t mean it to happen”. He said: “Sticking a blade into someone, I never thought I’d be capable of doing that.” The video showed gardaí asking Green why he tried to attract their attention after the killing and Green telling them: “Because I knew I’d done something wrong and cause I wouldn’t know how to live with it if I didn’t say anything.”

It was the defence team’s case that Alan Young’s death was the result of “two friends who fought over something stupid” and that it was a “tragedy but not a murder”.

Mr Justice Paul Carney remanded Green on bail until sentencing on June 3 and said he would also receive victim impact evidence then.