A Cork man who killed one of his neighbours was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for manslaughter in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin today.
Mr Justice Paul Butler said that Mr Noel Mc Carthy was "brutally stabbed" by Keith O'Donovan. He said that Mr McCarthy had been in his home minding his own business and had refused to let O'Donovan and Mr James Hourigan in to the house because they had been drinking.
The judge said there was nothing he could do to relieve the suffering of the McCarthy family but he extended his sympathy to them. He sentenced O'Donovan to seven years imprisonment and said he had taken into account his "genuine remorse" shown during his trial for the death of someone who was "a very good friend."
The judge ordered that the sentence should be back-dated by twenty one months to take into account the time O'Donovan has already spent in custody.
Mr Justice Butler sentenced Hourigan to twenty one months and backdated it from today. He said that Hourigan had threatened people to prevent O'Donovan's apprehension and the maximum sentence was ten years but he regarded Hourigan's offence as being at the lower end of the range.
A jury in July convicted O'Donovan (31), of Spriggs Road, Gurranabraher, Cork City of the manslaughter of Mr Mc Carthy (28), a single man, also of Spriggs Road, on May 4th, 2000. Hourigan (34), of Harbour View Road, Knocknaheeny, Cork City pleaded guilty to proferring threats.