Life sentence for Perth murder

The Dublin native who killed his fellow countryman in Australia while high on the “meow meow” drug two years ago, has been sentenced to at least 17 years in prison by a Perth court.

Vincent Martin Crowe stabbed Wexford man Kenny Meyler in the neck while at a party at a beachside apartment in the Perth suburb of Scarborough following a rave in February 2013.

Mr Meyler was rushed to hospital and put on life support, but died almost a week later.

Apart from having drinks together the night before, the two men were not thought to be known to each other. The court heard that there was a minor altercation between Mr Meyler and one of Crowe’s friends and Crowe developed an “irrational fixation” over it, even though the row had been resolved and the two other men had shaken hands.

He took a knife with a 20cm blade from the kitchen and thrust it into his 21-year-old victim’s neck while he was sitting at a table.

As well as alcohol, the 34- year-old attacker had taken mephedrone, otherwise known as “meow meow”.

Crowe had claimed he had no memory of the attack. He was initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm. The decision to upgrade the charge to murder was made by detectives following the results of a postmortem on Mr Meyler’s body.

Crowe pleaded guilty to manslaughter. His legal team argued he did not have an understanding of what was happening due to the drugs and that he could not therefore be seen to have intended to kill.

However, prosecutors were determined he should face a murder charge and after a retrial, he was found guilty. The judge said he accepted that Crowe was sorry and that the drugs and drink had led to “unanticipated” effects.

But he said that was still not enough to excuse his actions. “You took what you understood to be illegal drugs without knowing what it was or what the effects would be,” he said.

He imposed a life sentence with a minimum of 17 years. That means, with time served, Crowe could be freed by 2030.

Mr Meyler’s mother, Melanie, travelled to Australia for the hearing and told the court through a victim impact statement: “He [(Kenny] brought joy to everyone he met and Kenny had a wisdom about him, an old soul. I am lost without Kenny. A part of me left with my son. My world fell apart.”