A High Court judge said during a manslaughter sentencing that he has been "haunted by the conditions of the cruelly named Fatima Mansions" outlined during the trial, which was heard at the Central Criminal Court last February.
Mr Justice Paul Carney yesterday handed down a five-year suspended sentence on a 35-year-old Dublin man who had been found guilty of the manslaughter of a former All Ireland boxing champion who suffered from a drug addiction.
Mr Justice Carney said he did "not see any purpose" that would be served by imprisoning Anthony Burke.
Burke of Clancarty Road, Donnycarney in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Joseph Sutcliffe (32) in Fatima Mansions, Rialto in Dublin's inner city. The trial, which lasted seven days, heard that the father of three died as a result of blood loss from a single stab wound to the abdomen.
The Central Criminal Court jury of five men and seven women took just over seven hours to reach its majority verdict of 11 to 1 last February.
Mr Justice Carney said it seemed to him that Burke was a "decent man and remains one who was sucked into something that he wasn't able to cope with". The trial judge then gave Burke a five-year suspended sentence on the condition he keep the peace for five years on a bond of €1,000.
A woman who disposed of the knife after the fatal stabbing but who later showed gardaí where it was located was given probation. Mother-of-five Ellen Cahill of Fatima Mansions had pleaded guilty to impeding the apprehension or prosecution for an arrestable offence contrary to Section 7(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1997. Mr Justice Carney said he found the "facts have been proved when applying probation" regarding Ms Cahill.
Before sentencing, Mr Justice Carney told the court that he was "asked on a daily basis" how he could sit and listen to the evidence he hears in court. "So far, I have been able to do it because by the time of 4.10pm, I have forgotten what I've been dealing with. But in this case, my defences have broken down. On the conclusion of this case, I have been haunted by the conditions of the cruelly named Fatima Mansions."
He said that on the night of the fatal stabbing, the court heard that there was a "large number of people about on the night the deceased met his death".
"We heard many of these young people had subsequently died from drug-related conditions in the time it took the case to come to trial."
Mr Justice Carney said the court heard from young women who "ply their trade" on Baggot Street and Benburb Street "until they got enough money to buy drugs at Fatima Mansions". He said the court heard during the trial that "people were told 'go left for the white stuff and go right for the brown stuff' when looking for drugs at the block of flats".
The judge said Burke had no previous convictions and was a "man who spends his life looking after his invalid father". The judge said he accepted that the accused man "had not intended to kill anyone". During the trial, Mr Justice Carney said the court saw the accused on taped interviews "trembling with incomprehension and remorse". Perhaps Burke said "more than he ought" to have for his own good, the judge said.
The partner of the deceased man, Sharon O'Keeffe, told prosecuting barrister Luan Ó Braonáin that Mr Sutcliffe was her "best friend and partner" and since his death all she has is their two children, Joseph (11) and Lee (9) to keep her going.
"Joe loved his children," Ms O'Keeffe said. During the trial, she said, it was said that he "broke one of my son's legs but none of my children ever had a broken leg". A brother of the deceased man, Philip Sutcliffe, told Mr Ó Braonáin that a "picture" of his brother was painted during the trial "that was not true". "He went the wrong side of the law at a young age," he said. "My mother misses him very much, we all do", he added.