A judge at the Central Criminal Court has said he will have to read a written victim impact statement from the family of a Dublin man who was stabbed to death, before deciding whether to reject all or part of it.
In a clear reference to the controversial Robert Holohan case, Mr Justice Eamon de Valera spoke of "the matter which caused great controversy last week, a matter which I have some reservations about".
He was speaking after a Dublin teenager who stabbed and slashed a father of two 14 times in the head, neck, stomach and chest was convicted of manslaughter by a jury in a unanimous verdict.
Mr Justice de Valera said: "I don't want to appear unsympathetic to the family because the family in this case has suffered the most."
However, he said, he would now have to see the family's proposed statement in writing before deciding whether to reject it or reject part of it.
Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, said he would consult the family about whether they wished to make a statement and would ask them to put this in writing.
The jury in the week-long trial took several hours and was sent to a hotel last night before finding the accused, who was 17 at the time of the incident, not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Michael Murphy (31) outside the Buda Bar in Blanchardstown on Halloween night 2004.
Paul Burns SC, for the accused man, had contended that his client had not intended to kill Mr Murphy and that earlier assaults and taunts from the deceased had provoked his client into losing control.
The trial heard that the accused claimed he had taken a knife from Mr Murphy's pocket to carry out the fatal assault.
However, the prosecution had said it rejected this version of events as unbelievable and self-serving.
When the accused was asked if he was shocked by what he had done, he said: "I didn't mean to kill him. Nobody deserves to die."
He was remanded in continuing detention and is due to be sentenced on April 28th.