A Galway man who stabbed a musician to death with a kitchen knife received a seven-year sentence for manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Michael Reilly, of Corrach Buí, Rahoon, Galway, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Patrick Shaughnessy (28), of Coogan Park, Galway, when his trial began on April 19th last, but changed his mind a day later and decided to plead not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
A courtroom packed with relatives of Mr Shaughnessy applauded when Mr Justice Barry White refused leave to appeal the sentence, with someone shouting out "Happy Birthday" to Reilly, who turned 53 yesterday.
Mr Justice White told Reilly that but for the fact that the DPP had accepted provocation as a defence he would have handed down a 14-year sentence. He said that the "heartache and anger" seen in the court yesterday "mirrors the other families of other victims".
"The number of violent deaths in our society seems to be increasing. Among a certain element of society there has developed a knife culture where a person resorts to using a knife on an unarmed person," said the judge.