A father of two has been jailed for 10 years by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for strangling a Cavan man who had beaten him with his walking stick.
Thomas O'Reilly told gardaí he continued watching a programme about the Pope on Sky News after he heard "a croaking sound" when he put his hands around the neck of Ben Carrolin who fell back in his armchair.
O'Reilly (33), Mountjoy Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Carrolin (58) at St George's Place on April 21st, 2005. Mr Carrolin was originally from Virginia, Co Cavan, but had been living in the north inner city.
Judge Hogan said he took into account the emotional and physical abuse suffered by O'Reilly from the deceased and that O'Reilly went to gardaí and confessed when contacted by his girlfriend.
He told gardaí he thought Mr Carrolin was asleep after his action that night but when he woke up and realised that the victim was dead "he just walked away".
"I do not know how to describe this but it seems to me to be casual at the very least. However the bottom line is that a life was snuffed out," the judge said.
He noted that reports indicated O'Reilly was at a high risk of re-offending unless he dealt with his drink problem and he suspended the final two years of the sentence on conditions which included that O'Reilly attend an alcohol treatment programme and obey all the instructions he was given on it.
Det Sgt Gerard McDonnell told Sean Gillane, prosecuting, that O'Reilly's ex-partner, Rachel Lackin, contacted gardaí after she received a call from him saying he had "done him in".
"He has been raping me for years and he hit me on the back with his cane. He is not around anymore to hurt me. He is asleep," O'Reilly told her.
Gardaí forced their way in to his flat and found Mr Carrolin lying fully clothed in bed after they had been contacted by concerned neighbours who said they had not seen him that day and his meals-on-wheels dinner was sitting outside his door.
Postmortem results concluded that Mr Carrolin had died of manual strangulation after bruising was found on his body which was consistent with neck compression.
Det McDonnell said he spoke to O'Reilly on the phone three days later while he was in Gorey, Co Wexford, and convinced him to "hand himself in " to the local station there after Ms Lackin called him to say she was giving a statement to gardaí.
The two men had known each other for 12 years and while Mr Carrolin told people that O'Reilly was his son and O'Reilly referred to him as his uncle, there was no blood relationship between them.
O'Reilly told gardaí that he had in the past woken to find Mr Carrolin interfering with him but said he had forgiven him for that.
He said they had been drinking in the flat that night when Mr Carrolin started to hit him with his cane. He told him to stop and Mr Carrolin said he was dying from cancer and had only four months to live.
Det McDonnell said O'Reilly told them that when he woke up later, following the Pope programme, and saw that Mr Carrolin was still sitting in the armchair, he moved him to his bed and pulled the covers over him "to keep him warm". He noticed there was bruising on his neck so he put antiseptic cream on it and left the flat.
Det McDonnell said O'Reilly had 14 previous convictions and had been in custody since presenting himself to gardaí in Gorey.