A Limerick man has been found guilty of the murder of a man he described as a friend by a unanimous jury verdict in the Central Criminal Court.
However, the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment will not be imposed until March 28th next after the judge adjourned sentencing to that date.
Mr Justice Carney said he wanted to recall the deputy State pathologist to hear evidence in relation to homicide trends in the Limerick area.
It is understood that Dr Marie Cassidy has compiled a study into homicide trends throughout the State.
The judge has in the past referred to the high number of murder cases coming before the Central Criminal Court from the Limerick area.
In last night's verdict, Gerard Hayes (38), of John Carew Park, Limerick, was found guilty of the murder of John Robinson (20), of Swallow Drive, John Carew Park, on January 22/23rd, 2000, at John Carew Park, Limerick.
The jury had heard Robinson was staying in the house of the accused when the incident took place in the early hours of the morning of January 23rd, 2000.
At the time, Robinson was fighting with his own family, and had a barring order out against him.
A post-mortem showed that Robinson sustained 36 stab wounds and 27 cuts to his body, mainly to the head, face, chest and arms.
The cause of death was loss of blood due to two stab wounds to the jugular veins on both sides of the neck.
Mr Justice Carney had told the jury that it could find the accused guilty of murder or, if it found provocation, guilty of manslaughter.
He said a not guilty verdict was not open to it in the case.
After deliberating for over three hours, the jury rejected Hayes's defence that he did not intend to kill or cause serious injury when he repeatedly stabbed Robinson with a knife he claimed Robinson had brought into the house.
Hayes claimed that he was provoked by Robinson, who, he said, threw a bottle at him three times, the third time causing an injury to the side of his head.
The jury rejected the provocation claim, and accepted Hayes's own account to gardaí in which he said he lost his temper.
In evidence, Hayes attempted to deny he had ever made those remarks to gardaí, but the jury also rejected that defence.
Mr Justice Carney said last night he would also hear evidence relating to the history of the accused during the sentence hearing on March 28th.