Dublin man who stabbed victim as he slept guilty of murder

A Dublin man who admitted stabbing a 32-year-old-man he found lying in his bed has been found guilty of his murder.

Trevor Corr, aged 39, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of James Humphries, aged 32, at Kiltalown Way in Tallaght on September 22, 2013. This plea was not accepted by the State.

Yesterday, a Central Criminal Court jury found Corr guilty by unanimous verdict of murdering Mr Humphries at Kiltalown Way in Tallaght.

Brendan Grehan, defending, told the court he was tasked to indicate on behalf of his client “his profound regret and sorrow that he caused the loss of life” of Mr Humphries and “there is nothing he can say that can change that”.

Mr Grehan asked the court to backdate his client’s sentence. The court heard Corr was on bail but had spent “just over four and a half months in custody before being granted bail”.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy then sentenced Corr to life imprisonment and backdated it to August 1.

Garda Sarah Bolger read two victim impact statements to the court. The first report was written by the mother of the deceased, Ellen Radford.

“On July 17, 1981, my son was placed in my arms for the first time, just minutes after he took his first breath,” she wrote. “He was so precious, his face so flawless, his skin so soft and I whispered ‘I love you, son’ for the first time.”

The court heard how’ on September 25, 2013, Ms Radford was led to a “cold table” where her “beautiful son lay” and “this time his face was not flawless” but his skin was “only cold, very cold and I whispered ‘I love you, son’ for the last time”, she read.

In her victim impact statement. Ms Radford said she has tried to find the words to describe how James’s murder has impacted on her life but there were “no adequate words” to describe “the pain, anger, and despair” she has felt.