A Dublin barman has been cleared of the manslaughter of a Vietnamese man in Temple Bar, Dublin, almost four years ago.
Noel O'Flaherty (35), with a previous address at McCormack Gardens, Baldoyle, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Ly Minh Luong (50) on Fownes Street Upper in August 2002.
The jury returned its unanimous not-guilty verdict after deliberating for 40 minutes.
Mr O'Flaherty, under cross-examination by prosecution senior counsel Tom O'Connell, said yesterday he had tried to stop his friend James Harmer from carrying out an assault on Mr Luong and his friend Dong Wei, who is from China.
"Have you seen the size of James Harmer? He's 6ft 6in and probably weighs 17 stone."
He said he tried to walk away from the fight but failed. "I tried to defend myself, and I tried to stop James from making it any worse."
James Harmer (29), of Abbey Court Hostel, Bachelors Walk, Dublin, was convicted in an earlier trial of the manslaughter of Mr Loung, who never recovered from the assault and died from brain injuries on August 19th, 2002.
Both Harmer and O'Flaherty were convicted of assault causing harm to Dong Wei in the same incident on August 16th, 2002. O'Flaherty is to be sentenced for this at a date yet to be fixed.