Jail for shooting neighbour

A DUBLIN teenager has been jailed for seven years for the manslaughter of his neighbour, whom he shot in the chest after the mechanic had threatened to put him in a wheelchair.

Conor Duffy, aged 18, of St Mary’s Road in East Wall, had denied murdering Aidan O’Kane, aged 50, in a laneway in East Wall in December 2008.

The father-of-one had chased the youth into the lane after he and other teenagers threw eggs at his house and taunted him as he cleaned up the mess.

Duffy had been friendly with his neighbour prior to the shooting and had been in his house a number of times to smoke cannabis.

They fell out when Mr O’Kane suspected the teen of stealing his bike, and threatened to put him in a wheelchair. Duffy admitted to manslaughter but the plea was rejected by the DPP and he was tried for murder last month.

A jury acquitted him of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter by majority verdict.

Sentencing at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said the manslaughter was on the upper end of the scale.