Man convicted of baby's manslaughter

A former soldier was given a five-year suspended prison sentence by a judge at the Central Criminal Court today after a jury found him guilty of the manslaughter of the 18-month-old son of his first cousin.

John Reilly was convicted by the jury of the manslaughter of 18-month-old Oisin Reilly-Murphy in June 2000.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said that a relatively small quantity of poteen had "a unique, inexplicable and extraordinary effect'' on John Reilly and "he had no control over his body or his actions'' and was functioning like an epileptic or diabetic in a bad state of a hypo or hyper.

The judge said that the case had been "unique in the criminal law of this country".

He said he was satisfied that a prison sentence would serve no purpose and he sentenced Reilly to five-years imprisonment suspended on Reilly's own bond of €1,000, on condition that he keep the peace for five years and that he does not carry a Leatherman (a multi tool knife used in the killing ) of any other similar device.

Reilly showed no emotion as the sentence was passed and after a brief consultation with his lawyers, he hurriedly left the court making no comment.

The jury of six men and six women took seven hours and forty minutes over two days to reach 10 to 2 majority verdict that Reilly was not guilty of the child's murder but guilty of manslaughter.

John Reilly (aged 32) of Crooksling, Brittas, Co Dublin had denied the murder of Oisin Reilly-Murphy (aged 18 months) of Manor Kilbride, Co Wicklow on June 5, 2000 at Kiltalown Road, Jobstown, Tallaght, Co Dublin.

Reilly's defence was that of sane automatism, whereby a person with no history of psychiatric disturbance commits a purposeless act of which there is no memory.

Earlier in the trial, an expert medical witness told the court that sleepwalking, night terrors or a combination of both may have caused Mr Reilly's actions.

The sleep disorders could have been trigged by heavy amounts of alcohol.

During the 13-day trial the accused man, John Reilly was asked: "Have you accepted with certainty that you killed Oisin?" "Yes" he replied.

Mr Reilly told the jury he had great respect for the child's parents, his cousin, Mr Tommy Reilly, and partner Ms Grainne Murphy, for the way they had coped since Oisin's death.

"Their ability to talk to me...to look at me. They're solid people," he said.

The court has heard that the infant was stabbed to death in the sitting room of Mr Hugh Reilly's house (Tommy Reilly's brother).

The accused and the child's parents had stayed overnight there and had spent the evening drinking and playing cards.

John Reilly was home on leave from Iraq, where he had been working as a UN sanctions inspector.

Some years earlier, he completed two tours of duty in the Lebanon while a member of the Irish Army Ranger Wing.