A man has been convicted of murdering his friend in a row in Co Wicklow last year.
Thomas O’Connor (24), of Burnaby Court, Greystones, had pleaded not guilty to murdering John O’Brien at Farrankelly Road, Delgany on June 4th, 2010.
The jury of six men and six women returned a unanimous verdict of guilty after nearly four hours of deliberation.
Mr Justice Barry White deferred sentencing until December 12th to allow for preparation of a victim impact report.
However the jury was told he had no discretion in departing from the mandatory life sentence before he exempted them from any further duty for 15 years.
The trial heard evidence from Deputy State Pathologist Dr Micheal Curtis the cause of death was catastrophic brain injury due to blunt force trauma to the head.
O’Connor had told gardaí an in interview Mr O’Brien had started the row and then tried to hit him with a rock first.
He told gardaí he then got the rock but only hit Mr O’Brien two or three times and said “didn’t mean to kill him”.
The accused said in interview he was “in a rage” and when asked by gardaí if he thought he had “lost it” in the row he said that he had.
The court also heard evidence the deceased had been abusive earlier that day, was drunk and was trying to initiate fights with numerous people.
Mr Justice White had earlier told the jury there was no option of acquitting the accused man - they must return a verdict of either guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He said the issue was whether this was murder or whether it was manslaughter by reason of provocation.