No jail for man who impeded Skibbereen murder probe

The court heard that Thomas Fitchett "was present for most of the assault and regrets his inaction"

Thomas Fitchett (pictured here wearing hood in 2019) was given a two-year sentence fully suspended for two years on the condition he keeps the peace and be of good behaviour.

A Cork-based man who impeded a murder investigation by driving a man from a house where another man later lost his life after a "violent assault" has avoided jail.

Thomas Fitchett (34), of The Moorings, Skibbereen, County Cork, had pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 7(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1997 of knowing or believing that another person not before the court had committed an arrestable offence, to wit the murder of Jonathan Ustic, and that without reasonable excuse had intentionally impeded that other person’s apprehension or prosecution.