Judge jails teenager for five years over Limerick stabbing

A Limerick teenager has been jailed for five years at the Central Criminal Court for his role in the stabbing of his former school friend over two years ago.

Anthony Mason (aged 18), of Bishop Street, Limerick, had pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Roman Vysochan (aged 16) at the Carraig Midhe estate, Corbally, on May 10, 2008.

The victim, who had been living in Ashley Close, Westbury, Co. Clare, collapsed at the entrance to the housing estate in Corbally having being stabbed in the chest and arm during an altercation.

John O’Loughlin (aged 21), of Cecil Street, Limerick, was jailed for life last July for the murder of the talented soccer player.

Mason told gardaí that, along with O’Loughlin, he confronted the victim and a teenage girl in the house and although he hit the victim a number of times, he had discarded the knife he was carrying after recognising Roman from their time together in school.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said that he normally managed to forget the “horrors” of the court by the close of proceedings each day, but that he had “never forgotten” the account given by the victim’s mother Tetyana of visiting a Limerick cemetery and finding that “every second grave was that of a young person”.

He said that the court had taken into account the inherently grave nature of the crime committed and the effect it had on the Ukrainian-born family of the victim and Mrs Vysochan in particular.

Mr Justice Carney said that Mason had armed himself with a knife in anticipation of a fight and that the court was mindful that his consumption of alcohol offered no defence or mitigation in relation to his obligation to society.

However, he said the court had regard to the fact that Mason had no previous convictions, that he had proffered an early plea of guilty and that he had played a minor role compared to the “exponentially greater” one played by O’Loughlin.

Imposing a five-year sentence from today, Mr Justice Carney directed that Mason be given credit for time already served in prison.

The court heard that on the night of the offence Mason had consumed “five or six pints” and had been further drinking in an apartment before taking a taxi with O’Loughlin and two others to the house at Corbally.

Mason denied travelling to the house to hurt someone and told gardaí that he had armed himself with a kitchen knife because he believed he was going to fight a “group of young fellas” who had congregated there. He described O’Loughlin as being in “a very bad mood” and “going crazy”.

Having been let in to the house, Mason ran to an upstairs bedroom with O’Loughlin and confronted the victim and a teenage girl. However, Mason told gardaí that he placed the knife he was carrying on a dresser after recognising Roman from school.

He told gardaí he caught the victim by his legs, pulled him to his feet and gave him “two or three digs” while O’Loughlin struck him from behind and stabbed him.

Roman managed to escape from the house but collapsed as he reached a main road adjacent to the Corbally estate, having suffered a 13cm chest wound. Efforts to resuscitate him failed after he went into cardiac arrest and he died shortly afterwards.