Jury finds Nathan O’Neill guilty of manslaughter in Shannon nightclub murder case
The jury of one woman and 11 men deliberated for four hours and one minute before returning to Courtroom 6 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on Thursday afternoon to to say they found Nathan O’Neill not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. File picture: Larry Cummins
The young Limerick man accused of murdering a 23-year-old man in a Shannon nightclub in 2018 has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
The accused man, Nathan O’Neill, 24, had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not murder. The trial was to determine the issue of murder.
The jury of one woman and 11 men deliberated for four hours and one minute before returning to Courtroom 6 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on Thursday afternoon to tell Mr Justice Paul Burns that they had reached a unanimous verdict. This jury was not told that it was a re-trial of the case that had been heard before a different judge and jury earlier this year where there was a failure to reach a verdict.
The case related to an incident in the early hours of celebrations after the St Patrick’s Day Grand Slam win by the Irish rugby team in 2018.
Nathan O’Neill of Hill Top Drive, Dooradoyle, Limerick, pleaded not guilty to murdering Jamie Higgins at the Shannon Knights licensed premises at Tullyvarraga, Shannon, Co. Clare, on March 18, 2018. To this charge he replied: “Not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.” He pleaded guilty previously to causing serious harm to Michael Shannon on the same date at the same place and he faces sentence for that also.
Mr Justice Burns remanded Nathan O’Neill in custody to appear for sentencing on January 24, 2023, at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Dublin. The Higgins family will have the opportunity to prepare a victim impact statement. A probation report is also to be prepared on the accused.
Memoranda of garda interviews with the accused were read to the jury and video recordings of some of the interviews were played to them. Nathan O’Neill said: “Jamie hit me and I swung the knife at him.” He said the late Jamie Higgins made contact with this punch – hitting the accused in the lower lip.
Asked: “Did you stab him at this point?" the accused man, Nathan O’Neill said: “Yeah, I think so.” He denied the suggestion that he had armed himself with a knife and come back to the club for revenge because the deceased had punched him earlier – the first of two assaults that night.
The accused man said: “I just want to say sorry. I just panicked and got scared. I just got caught in the moment. I am not a bad person. I didn’t mean to do it. I was back in work – I wanted to go to college. Now everyone is going to think this is the guy who done this. This is the brush I am going to be painted with. I was not raised to do this.”
He told gardaí that about four minutes after he arrived in the ‘The Knights’, Jamie Higgins passed him and said: “What’s happening, faggot.” He said Jamie Higgins then punched him in the lip with his fist. “After being hit in the face, it was like shock, it was in front of everyone… I get panic attacks at times,” he said.
He left the club for about an hour after that and went for a spin in his friend’s car. He said his friend was good at calming him down. Without his friend seeing him he (the accused) picked a knife from the floor of the car where there was an assortment of tools. He put it in his right jeans pocket and returned to the club.
Asked why he didn’t just go home, he said his girlfriend was there and he was worried about her and did not want to leave her in the club.
“When Jamie punched me, I pulled out the knife – it was actually in my front right pants pocket. When Jamie gave me the punch I stumbled.
"I didn’t expect them to hit me. They had already hit me once,” the accused man told gardaí.
Gardaí put it to him: “You went back a second time, and you wanted revenge?” He replied: “No. I said it already, I never set out to hurt anyone. Do you think I went back to kill someone or something? No, never. I am not an idiot – taking someone’s life, throwing my own life away.”
Prosecution senior counsel Tim O’Leary said to the jury: “Have a look to see if there is remorse for the fact that Mr Higgins is dead? Is there remorse? There is certainly remorse for the fact that he is facing these matters.”
He asked the jury to consider the question of whether it was sudden, given that he had brought the knife back in to the nightclub. “It is not sudden at all – it is planned. It is not a sudden loss of self-control, it is controlled. It (the knife in his hand) is there. He is ready for action.
“The evidence we see in the prosecution is quite straightforward. I suggest we can see the knife after the first lunge…The amount of damage it was capable of in 10 or 12 seconds. The intention is crystal clear, the prosecution say. We say the intention is absolutely clear. It is hard to imagine a set of facts that are clearer with regard to the intent to cause serious injury in that context.
“Let’s get real for a second - What is the natural and probable consequence of stabbing somebody five times in the chest and stomach area? It seems to me the only natural and probable consequence of his actions…The extent of the injuries, the force of the injuries, the speed of the injuries mean that you will have no problem satisfying yourself that the case of murder is made out. We say to you that it is murder pure and simple,” Mr O’Leary SC said.
Alice Fawsitt, senior counsel for the defence, said in her closing speech to the jury: “I am not looking for sympathy for Mr O’Neill. He accepts he brought the knife to the nightclub. He accepted he should not have brought it in. He accepted he produced it. He accepted that he used excessive force in defending himself – albeit two of them attacked him.
"He should not have produced the knife. He accepts it was excessive force and in doing that he has unlawfully killed Mr Higgins. He has caused Mr Higgins to lose his life and caused serious harm to Mr Shannon. But he did not intentionally cause serious harm, it was reckless.
"You must be satisfied (if he is to be convicted of murder) that he intended to cause death or serious harm to Mr Higgins. I say Mr O’Leary (for the prosecution) has invited you to speculate. There is a difference between going in intending to cause harm and going in intending to defend himself. They have to prove to you that he intended to cause death or serious harm. They have to prove he was not defending himself.”
Ms Fawsitt said the accused man was scared and anxious because of previous incidents that had occurred, including his account of being chased by four people while they were armed with a slash-hook and an iron bar.
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