Closing speeches have been heard in the trial of a teenager accused of murdering his father in Roscommon over a year ago.
Defence counsel, Brendan Grehan SC, told the jury at the Central Criminal Court that Thomas Cunningham (19) accepted that he was responsible for the unlawful killing of his father but was not a murderer.
Mr Cunningham, of Santa Maria Commons, Ballinlough, denies murdering 46 year- old Thomas Brendan Cunningham at their home on August 23rd, 2007.
The jury had heard that the accused lived with his father and grandparents and that his father was an alcoholic who was receiving a carer's allowance in relation to the grandparents although it was the accused who looked after them.
On the day leading up to his death the deceased was asked to go to the shop for food in the afternoon but returned home after midnight drunk. The accused grabbed his father and punched him outside the house. The deceased fell to the ground where the accused said he punched him twice more and kicked him.
The deceased was helped up but fell down again and was left in the garden overnight with a duvet and pillow. He was found dead the following morning.
Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, said the accused caused serious injury to his father which led to his death and that the accused had to have intended that serious injury – he knew his father was drunk and vulnerable and yet punched him and kicked him.
Mr Gageby told the jury that it should consider the fact that the accused was slow to admit the extent of his assault on his father and initially told gardai that he had punched him once.
Mr Gageby also said the accused was anxious to give the impression that his father had been injured before he arrived home and that he had fallen over after being punched and hit his head.
The prosecution said there was no lawful excuse, such as self defence, for the assault and that even if the jury thought it was understandable or forgivable that did not make it lawful.
Mr Gageby said that it was "beyond doubt" that the accused had suffered serious injury and yet the accused left his father outside and failed to call an ambulance. He said that everyone may have sympathy for the accused but that the jury should "recognise it, but not let it cloud your judgement".
Mr Gageby said that if the jury found that the accused had been provoked by the deceased or that the accused lacked an intention to kill or cause serious injury, it could return and verdict of manslaughter but there was no evidence which could support an acquittal.
Mr Grehan said, "I am not going to suggest you could acquit the accused in this case" but, "he never had any intention to kill his father or cause him serious injury".
"Cases such as these are very much in the nature of tragedies", he said. Mr Grehan said the jury was not dealing with a case of "cold blooded murder".
He said the injuries suffered by the deceased were consistent with the account the accused gave of his actions and that if he was initially reticent during garda interview that was not to say that the truth did not emerge.
Mr Grehan said Mr Cunningham was devoted to his grandparents and the notion that the accused was in any way motivated by money was "simply preposterous".
He said the accused was clearly very annoyed when his father arrived home drunk and replied "it's in the oven" when asked where his parents' dinner was. Mr Grehan said this was a "red rag to a bull" and that the law recognises that people can overreact to provocation.
In relation to the accused leaving his father in the garden overnight, Mr Grehan said the deceased was a "tough cookie" and had "years of hard living" and it was not the first time he had spent the night outside.
Mr Grehan said, "if anything that shows a belief that serious injury had not been inflicted".
Mr Justice Paul Butler will charge the jury on Monday morning and it will then begin its deliberations.