A central Criminal Court judge yesterday sentenced a north Dublin man to three years' imprisonment for manslaughter. Alan Rooney (30) had been found not guilty of the murder but guilty of the manslaughter of David Hammond (24) at the Green, Pump Lane, Balbriggan on April 27th, 1996.
Yesterday, prosecuting counsel Ms Maureen Clark SC reminded the court that Mr Hammond died from a single stab wound to his heart inflicted with a 50p kitchen knife, described by state pathologist Prof John Harbison as "barely adequate" for the task.
During Alan Rooney's trial in February, evidence was given that three men were involved in the fight on the Green while two others looked on.
Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness backdated the three-year sentence she imposed to March 6th, and said she was taking into account the fact that Rooney had already spent over one and a half years in custody. She was also conscious that "he has had the accusation of the offence of murder hanging over his head since 1996".
Supt Patrick Lambe told the court he had since been transferred to another area, but at the time of the killing he was responsible for the investigation in Balbriggan.
He agreed with Ms Clark that Alan Rooney had suffered a number of accidents which had affected his head, including a brain haemorrhage some 10 years ago. Arising out of this injury, he had been admitted a number of times to St Ita's psychiatric hospital in Portrane.
His father was killed in a road traffic accident in 1987. Sentencing, Ms Justice McGuinness said it had been accepted by counsel for the State that the killing was not a premeditated offence. "Mr Rooney did not set out to kill David Hammond," she said. Rather, there was evidence of a fight or scuffle and injuries to Mr Hammond in the course of it.
"Others were involved in the fighting too," Ms Justice McGuinness said, and she had got the "curious impression" in the evidence of some of those that fighting in the back lanes of Balbriggan was something that was done for amusement and was not to be taken seriously.