Teenager jailed for murdering man who knocked over his beer

A 16-year-old male from Limerick has been sentenced to 10 years by the Central Criminal Court for the brutal murder of a man who knocked over his bottle of beer.

The defendant was drinking on the street with other boys when Patrick Coleman (aged 32) passed by and knocked over the teenager’s drink. Mr Coleman was followed, stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle and left to bleed to death.

Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed a sentence of 10 years detention on the 16-year- old who was not subject to the usual mandatory life sentence for murder because he was under 17 years.

Mr Justice Carney said: “I take account of the gratuitous and cruel nature of this killing which is quite appalling”.

He said he must give credit to the defendant’s plea of guilty to murder but said it was a “tactical” plea which was delivered on the basis that the court would finalise matters while the defendant was underage. The defendant will turn 17 next month.

Mr Justice Carney also took into account the absence of previous convictions and legislative policy which required that rehabilitation be provided for.

Mr John O’Kelly SC, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Coleman was walking home alone after the All-Ireland hurling final on September 2, 2007. He had been drinking and had a bag of cans of beer. As he approached the Janesboro Soccer Club he saw teenage boys sitting on the pavement drinking.

Mr O’Kelly said the victim knocked over a bottle which belonged to the defendant who became angry and confronted Mr Coleman. The deceased walked on towards his home but the defendant followed and continued to argue with him.

The teenager picked up a glass bottle, smashed it and followed Mr Coleman around 300 yards up the James Carew Park Links Road. Mr O’Kelly said that without warning or struggle the defendant swung his arm and stuck the broken bottle into Mr Coleman’s neck with one blow.

The defendant then ran from the scene as did the other boys who had been following at a distance of 40 to 50 yards.

Mr Coleman was bleeding heavily and continued to walk another 300 yards to his house. He went inside and was later found dead in his bathroom due to blood loss.

Detective Garda Paul Madden said that three youths, including the defendant, presented themselves at the garda station the following day and made voluntary statements in which they falsely alleged that Mr Coleman had asked them for money he thought they owed him for hash.

Det. Garda Madden said that the supporting statements telling this story were later withdrawn. The defendant was arrested and interviewed a month later. He initially stuck to his story about Mr Coleman looking for money but later agreed that he did not know Mr Coleman. All that had happened was that the deceased knocked over his drink.

An eyewitness told gardaí that he saw the teenager hit Mr Coleman in the neck with half of a bottle and said “I didn’t see Mr Coleman do anything to deserve this”.

Mr O’Kelly told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions took the case “very seriously” and considered that the only mitigating factor was the defendant’s age. Mr O’Kelly said there had been no expression of remorse for taking Mr Coleman’s life “callously and pointlessly”.

Anthony Sammon SC, defending, said that his client had become upset when he heard the victim’s mother deliver the victim impact report to the court.

Counsel said that a report from a counsellor who had worked with the teenager suggested that he had expressed remorse.

Mr Sammon said his client had the “capacity and desire to rehabilitate” and requested that he be placed in Saint Patrick’s Institute when detained.

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The victim’s mother, Jemma Coleman, took the stand to read a victim impact statement which had been written in collaboration with her entire family. She said that there were no words to describe how the death of Patrick had affected the family but their lives had been changed forever.

Mrs Coleman said that 34-year-old Patrick was the second eldest of five children and was “kind, loving, generous and silly and gave the best hugs”. She said her son treated everyone as an equal and never judged others. She said his attitude to life was “don’t worry, be happy”.

He had a “tremendous love of nature” and was a keen gardener and enthusiastic fisherman. Mrs Coleman said Patrick had made a good life for himself in Limerick, was a hard worker and very happy.

She said he was the father of two girls aged 10 and eight. He loved his children and “would have walked through fire for them”. He was proud of them and everything they did, they were his life. Mrs Coleman said they eight-year-old had said that she had a “crack in her heart since her Daddy died”.

Mrs Coleman said her family had still not come to terms with Patrick’s death.

She said their family was an average one, with the usual ups and downs, but the impact of this was “immeasurable”.

She said they felt “sadness, anger, bitterness, desperation and fear”. She said the family are haunted by the knowledge that Patrick died alone, and probably didn’t even know he was dying”. The image of Patrick on a slab in the morgue with stitches in his neck remains. “We can still hear the cries of the children and still feel the tears in our eyes.”

“If we could speak to Patrick one more time we would thank him for being him and tell him that we love him and miss him.”

Mrs Coleman said the family would hold Patrick in their hearts and continue to wonder why he was taken from them in such and cruel and senseless way.

Outside court Mr Coleman spoke to the media and said: “Today we’ve got justice for Pat’s death. It will never bring our beloved Pat back but we feel we have a measure of justice and now may be able to mourn his loss. We’ll never be the family we were, our lives have changed forever. His children’s lives – they will never have a father for the rest of their lives”.

“The successful outcome we had today was totally due to the team and officers in Limerick under the supervision of Frank O’Brien, because without them and the painstaking work they did to leave no stone unturned, that’s how we got our result today.”

“I would like to thank my family liaison officer who was by our side through every moment; the support after crime services and the ‘Ad-vic Group’ who are quietly and with dignity trying to change things for us. As victims and families of victims we have no say and we have no word so our victim impact statement today gave me that right”.

“We’ll remember Pat as being funny, lovely and happy. He always said ‘my name is Pat, but my friends call me Happy’ and that’s the way he led his life – happy, free and enjoying life. He loved his daughters to bits, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for them and they have such beautiful memories of him.”

“Also today I think we should give hope to other families because we got justice today and there are so many other families suffering like us who maybe have not been so lucky. Maybe to have hope in the justice system – that there is hope out there.”

Asked how she felt towards the accused, Mrs Coleman said: “I don’t have any feeling. He has a family too. I think it was a senseless, mindless act that took away my Pat. Other than that I really don’t want to say anything.”

Asked if the court process had brought closure, Mrs Coleman said: “I feel we’re on a start of something. Our whole lives since the day Pat was murdered have been on hold for this one day, today. We hoped we would get justice and we feel we’ve achieved that today.”