Teenager gets 12 years for manslaughter

A Dublin teenager who stabbed and slashed a father-of-two fourteen times in the head, neck, stomach and chest has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for manslaughter, with the final four suspended at the Central Criminal Court today.

David O'Leary (aged 19) of Sheepmore Way, Blanchardstown, who was 17 at the time of the offence, was found not guilty of the murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Michael Murphy (aged 31) outside the Buda Bar in Blanchardstown on Halloween night, 2004.

O'Leary was captured on CCTV carrying out the knife attack after earlier fighting with Mr Murphy in the bar and outside, when the two were escorted from the premises.

After stabbing the victim near the bar entrance, later footage showed O'Leary with two of his friends.

When gardaí asked him why they were chasing Mr Murphy, he said his friends were trying to pull him back.

He still had the knife in his pocket and he said it was his intention to give the deceased "a few digs after he was screaming at me, 'You're dead'."

He later identified himself with the knife in his hand: "I'm digging him and probably slashed him a few times."

He accepted the deceased was running away from him at this point but said: "Yes but he was chasing me earlier."

After the knife attack the accused admitted he stayed and kicked Mr Murphy.

Passing sentence Mr Justice Eamon de Valera described the killing as “vicious and totally unnecessary” and said it was towards the “severe end of the sentencing spectrum.”

He said O’Leary had used a knife to inflict 14 individual wounds over an extended period in two separate sessions, which had been shown to the court in disturbing detail through the CCTV footage.

The judge said such a serious offence should carry a long custodial sentence. He said the carrying of knives was becoming more prevalent and said it must be understood that the courts will take a serious view of these offences.

He said the Swiss army knife, which O’Leary claimed to have taken from Michael Murphy’s pocket, was a tool type that had to be opened.

He said an appropriate sentence in this case would be 15 years, but he took into account that O'Leary had acknowledged using the knife from the outset, his offer of a plea of guilty to manslaughter, his youth and the fact he had expressed regret. He suspended the last four years of the 12-year sentence on condition O’Leary entered into a bond to keep the peace.

In court Mr Murphy's sister Marie Murphy read a letter she had written to the judge. She said it was hard to put into words the damage the crime had caused and she said her and her family were still trying to deal with the sadness and pain.

"I have lost not just a brother but a friend," she said.

"Michael was someone you could depend on and he gave unconditional love."

Mr Murphy from Fortlawn Avenue, Dublin 15 left behind two daughters, Lyndsey and Loren who were aged 9 and 10 at the time of his death.

"His untimely death has left many people saddened," said Ms Murphy.

"The girls still ask why their daddy died and probably always will. No child should ever have to lose their daddy."

She said her father had also been devastated by Mr Murphy's loss and had had to bury his wife 10 days later.

"At times I feel guilty. I laugh for a moment and feel happy then it hits me like a tonne of bricks," she said.

A letter from Lyndsey, now 12, was also handed into the judge and read by him.

O'Leary had admitted stabbing Mr Murphy but claimed he was provoked and had used a knife he took from the deceased.

Mr Luan O Braonain BL, prosecuting, asked Det Sgt Liam Kelly who headed up the investigation, if there was any evidence that Michael Murphy had produced a knife.

"There is no evidence of that at all, of him ever having a knife," he said. He agreed that this was what the accused had indicated but added: "That's as far as gardaí can put it."

Counsel for the accused Paul Burns SC said O'Leary had no previous convictions although he was subsequently charged with a road traffic matter in which he gave a false name after driving with no license and insurance.

He had told gardaí after the killing: "I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to kill him. Nobody deserves to die."

Mr Burns said O'Leary had indicated in the course of interviews that he had not realised the extent of the injuries he inflicted. He said his client had come off worse during some of the earlier scuffles and had lost control of himself as a result of beatings and taunts by Mr Murphy.

Mr Burns read out a letter from his client in which he said he was truly sorry for what had happened and for how Michael Murphy’s family were affected.

A number of members of the Murphy family then got up and left the courtroom.

In the letter O’Leary also said: “There’s not a day goes past that I don’t think about it. It’s deeply affected me as much as anyone else.”

During the trial, pathologist Dr Declan Gilsenan said the deceased had received eight knife wounds to his head and neck area. He had also been stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms. Dr Gilsenan said Mr Murphy would have been bleeding substantially and he died as a result of stab wounds to his stomach and thorax.

At the end of today’s hearing Mr Burns SC asked that his client be given credit for a year in custody he had already served. The judge said he understood from papers given to him that the accused had been in custody for his own protection and he dated the sentence to begin from today. Leave to appeal against the sentence was also refused.