Victim mistaken for gang member had ‘heart of gold’

A young man who was mistaken for a gang member and stabbed to death in a field had a “heart of gold and a bright future”, his mother told a sentencing hearing for his killer at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.

Michael Kinsella, aged 24, of Swiftbrook Close, Tallaght, pleaded guilty last December to the manslaughter of Adil Essalhi, 29, who was killed on January 6, 2011.

Mr Essalhi suffered 50 stab and chop wounds before his killers tried to set fire to his body and then dumped it in a ditch in Tyrrelstown.