Man faces 15 months in jail for father's manslaughter

A 36-year-old man who had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his father 10 years ago was today sentenced to 4 and a half years at the Central Criminal Court.

Last October Mr Thomas Heaney of St John's Villas, Arklow, Co Wicklow, entered his guilty plea a day before his trial was due to start at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of his father, Mr Peter Heaney (aged 59) at Marian Villas Arklow on October 9, 1994.

In 2000, the electrician was freed on bail by the Court of Criminal Appeal after it overturned his conviction for the murder of his father. The three-judge court ordered a re-trial.

Mr Heaney was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court after he was convicted in November, 1996, of the murder of his 59-year-old father.

When imposing sentence, Mr Justice Paul Carney said Mr Heaney would "receive full credit for the period of 3 years and 3 months he had already served".

Mr Carney said the accused had "a very bad family situation and had a very bad medical situation" at the time of the fatal stabbing. Mr Heaney, he said, "had a good character and had no previous convictions".

"Since his release", Mr Justice Carney said the accused had "rehabilitated himself extremely well and was in gainful employment". The Heaney family, the judge said, views the fatal incident as a "family tragedy".

Since Mr Heaney’s release in 2000, he has been living with his aunt, Mary Sherwood at St John's Villas, Arklow, and reporting once a week to the local garda station.

Today Mrs Sherwood told the court, her nephew had a "very hard childhood with his mother’s illness".

"She was in and out of hospital since he was a baby. His father wasn’t much help. He didn’t take care of them," she said.

Mr Justice Carney asked Mrs Sherwood, a sister of the accused’s late mother, did the "family remain well disposed towards Thomas" to which she replied, "yes".

Defence Counsel, Mr Shane Murphy SC told the court that after the deceased arrived home after drinking in excess of 12 pints in the early hours of October 9, 1994 a fight broke out. Mr Murphy SC said the accused's outburst was prompted after his father allegedly said: "You know what your problem is, you’re the same as your fucking mother".

At the time of his father’s fatal incident, Mr Murphy SC said Mr Heaney was suffering from depression and psychiatric problems associated with a near death car crash in which the accused broke his back seven years pervious.

His late mother, the defence counsel said, had a "long history of difficulties" which were "a source of great sadness and hung over the family". Mr Heaney’s mother had died in 1991 from cancer.

Detective Garda Vincent Whelan told the court that after Mr Heaney was arrested and charged in the early hours of October 9, 1994 he said "I’m just after killing my father" and also, "I can’t believe my father is dead, it’s not right".

Detective Whelan said the deceased died from shock and haemorrhage compounded by an accumulation of blood in the sac around the heart so that the heart could not function. This was due to a stab wound to the chest.

Prosecuting counsel Mr Sean Guerin BL said during the trial in 1996, Dr John Harbison, the then State Pathologist said the deceased had a total of nine stab wounds on his body – seven to his chest and two to his abdomen. One of his wounds had passed through Mr Heaney’s heart and this wound together with another stab wound to the heart were fatal injuries.

Dr Harbison, Mr Guerin BL said, testified that the deceased had suffered three wounds to his head with "part of the bone exposed". Dr Harbison had not found any defensive injuries.

In the original trial eight years ago, the prosecution contended that Mr Heaney stabbed his father to death as he was sleeping in a chair following a night’s drinking.

The trial heard that when gardaí arrived at the Heaney family home in the early hours of October 9, 1994 there was broken glass strewn over the lawn and the front porch and loud music was being played. Thomas Heaney was standing in the hallway with a telephone in his hand and there was blood in his face and hands.

Inside the family home, Mr Peter Heaney was slumped in a chair in the sitting room. He was unconscious and breathing heavily. There was a bloodstained knife on the coffee table near the chair.

Thomas Heaney was handcuffed and laid face down in the hallway. He kept saying; "Oh God" and also said "This is a fucking mess". He vomited on the roadway and was then taken to Arklow garda station.

In his evidence to the court, Mr Heaney said he had stabbed his father during a violent struggle and said he was "afraid for his life" at the time. He said he was afraid his father was reaching for a knife and was going to stab him.

Mr Heaney said his father was involved in a relationship with another woman while his mother was dying of cancer and had continued that relationship after his mother died in May 1991. He and his father had had rows over this relationship. Mr Heaney said he hadn’t approved of the relationship.

Mr Heaney said that on the night of October 8/9, 1994 he went downstairs to have it out with his father over the relationship. He said he stabbed his father twice in the stomach after his father said to him that he was a "mad fucking bastard" like his late mother.

He said he thought his father was dead, went to his bedroom where he drank more gin and then returned to the sitting room where his father was. He said he checked his father for a pulse and his father grabbed him. A violent struggle ensued during which he stabbed his father "more than once".

Today defence counsel, Mr Murphy SC said Mr Heaney is "deeply remorseful and sorry for what happened". The defence barrister said Mr Heaney is "very sorry for the pain" his father suffered and that he is sorry for the hurt caused to his brother and family.