An 18-year old Limerick man has been found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of a father of four in Limerick earlier this year.
Mr Justice Carney imposed a mandatory life sentence on David McInerney, Smith O'Brien Avenue, Limerick, after a jury delivered a majority 10-2 guilty verdict for the murder of Charlie Craig (39) last February.
At the first murder trial to be held in Ennis, the jury of eight men and four women delivered its verdict after five days of evidence and nearly seven hours deliberating. McInerney had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied the murder of Mr Craig.
During the trial, the jury heard that Mr Craig was stabbed to death by McInerney after a series of escalating rows between the two sparked off by Mr Craig refusing to give McInerney a lift into town to get something to eat early on February 21st last.
In an attempt to stop the row between the two men, McInerney was locked into the family home by his mother, but he climbed out a bedroom window armed with a kitchen knife to stab Mr Craig five times. Mr John Edwards SC, for the State, said such was the force used by McInerney in stabbing Mr Craig that the knife, which stabbed him in the heart, broke at the hilt. The jury was shown a photo of the broken knife protruding from Mr Craig's body prior to his post-mortem.
Mr Craig's murder followed just 10 days after his sister, Sarah Craig (34), Killeely, Limerick, was jailed for manslaughter at Limerick Circuit Court where she received a four-year sentence for the unlawful killing of a 20-year old with a steak knife.
Yesterday, at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Brendan Nix SC said McInerney "wants the court and the Craig family to know how much he regrets the great wrong he did and the great suffering that he has caused".
Ms Anne Doyle, a sister of Mr Craig, said: "We understand."
Mr McInerney has been in custody since February 22nd and his sentence was backdated to that date. Leave to appeal was refused.