Kerry man loses his appeal against manslaughter sentence

The Court of Criminal Appeal has upheld the 14-year sentence handed down to a Kerry man who killed a man he found in bed with his brother’s teenage ex-girlfriend.

Gerard O'Riordan (aged 26) punched father-of-three James Brazier (aged 30), also known as 'English Jim', to the point of unconsciousness before beating him with a tubular steel chair after he found him lying next to the then 15-year-old girl.

He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with 18 months suspended by Mr Justice Barry White in July last year, having being cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter following a Central Criminal Court trial.

O’Riordan formerly of Arbutus Grove, Killarney, went to the girl’s house with his brother Shane O’Riordan (aged 20) in the early hours of the morning of April 15, 2007, after learning she had been seen socialising in pubs in Killarney with Mr Brazier and her mother.

Shane O’Riordan also received a 14-year sentence for manslaughter after admitting to stabbing the victim 12 times during the same assault.

Post-mortem evidence indicated Mr Brazier died from multiple stab wounds.

Counsel for O’Riordan, Mr Dominic McGinn SC, told the court that the sentencing judge had not applied the required standard of proof when he asserted he was “strongly suspicious” that O’Riordan had “ulterior motives” in going to the house in the first instance.

Mr McGinn said that suspicion had no place in a criminal court of law and that O’Riordan may have gone to the house for any number of reasons, including preventing his brother from “losing his head” and “doing something dangerous” or ensuring his brother was not attacked by Mr Brazier.

He said that Mr Justice White had erred in expressing his “grave misgivings” over whether O’Riordan had expressed genuine remorse, given that he had expressed his concern for the deceased man by leaving instructions for an ambulance to be called in the aftermath of the assault.

Mr McGinn said that the 14-year sentence imposed was exceptional in comparison to other manslaughter cases and as a starting point for a prison term was “just too high”.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Nial Fennelly, sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Paul Gilligan, said that the attack was an incident of “extreme, sustained, wanton and deliberate violence”.

Dismissing the appeal, he said that despite “valiant efforts” on behalf of Mr McGinn, the court was satisfied the application was “entirely without merit”.

Mr Justice Fennelly said the court rejected the contention that the sentencing judge had based his beliefs on suspicion, as the facts of the case were “staring him in the face” and it was clear O’Riordan had gone to the house to assault Mr Brazier.

He said that Mr Justice White was entitled to voice his scepticism over O’Riordan’s expressions of remorse, as they had come “very late in the day” and calling an ambulance could not be construed as a remorseful action.

Mr Justice Fennelly said that Mr Justice White was also entitled to take in to account O’Riordan’s 35 previous convictions when imposing a 14-year sentence, as he had demonstrated a propensity to engage in extreme, unprovoked violence against innocent victims.