A man who admitted to brutally beating a grandather to death has been jailed for five years.
Gary Walsh (35), of the Watercourse, Orwell Park, Templeogue, Dublin, had been charged with murdering Cathal Sweeney at a mutual friend’s flat in Ashdale Gardens, Terenure.
Following two trials in which juries could not agree a verdict the State accepted his plea of guilty to manslaughter.
Passing sentence on Monday, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the appropriate penalty for the crime would be 10 years, but taking into account his guilty plea he reduced that to eight. He also suspended the last three years of the sentence, saying that Walsh appeared to have rehabilitated and has a future that holds out some degree of hope.
Mr Justice McCarthy said he believed Walsh’s remorse was genuine and that reports that handed in to him showed he was making progress, had taken responsibility for the killing and had quit drinking.
The court has previously heard from the victim’s son, David Sweeney, who said he cannot stop thinking of his father drowning in his own blood with nobody to help.
On the day of the killing the accused and the deceased met for the first time in the flat of a mutual friend, who was also an alcoholic. They drank while watching Ireland play rugby.
‘Impropriety’
The attack was prompted by an allegation of sexual impropriety against Mr Sweeney of which Mr Justice McCarthy said there was no evidence. He said Mr Sweeney was a man of “very good character,” extremely friendly and generous.
However, Walsh punched Mr Sweeney repeatedly until he said the victim admitted to the assault. Walsh stopped punching him because there was so much blood and then told Mr Sweeney to clean himself up.
Det Sgt Joe Molloy testified that Walsh later called the paramedics after finding Mr Sweeney slumped over in a bedroom. He said that gardaí found Walsh to be nervous and uneasy when they arrived.
Walsh claimed that Mr Sweeney had been assaulted before arriving to the flat, but the other occupant told gardaí otherwise, and Walsh then admitted to beating him.
Det Sgt Molloy said a drinking session had been going on for some time, with Walsh consuming alcohol continuously for about 24 hours.
He said that a postmortem found the deceased had sustained fractures to his nasal and cheek bones, which would have compromised his ability to breathe. The resulting lack of oxygen would have caused brain injury.
The pathologist accepted that the six or seven punches Walsh admitted to deloivering could have accounted for all the injuries.
In a victim impact statement given on behalf of Cathal Sweeney’s three children, David Sweeney said the family did not condone their father’s “way of life, nor the company he kept but he was our Dad. We only ever get one, and he was ours.”
He acknowledged that alcohol abuse had taken its toll on his father’s health. “However, he only needed to survive one more day to meet his third grandchild for the first time,” he said, adding that three more grandchildren had been born since then.
“They are now starting to ask about him and what happened to him. How do we ever explain that?”