A Dublin man was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court yesterday for the manslaughter of another man in 1999.
John Paul Hayes (23), of Belcamp Green, Coolock, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Francis Moore (33) in a retrial last November. Mr Moore (33) died on the balcony of his flat in Coultry Road, Ballymun, on June 13th, 1999. He had been stabbed 39 times in the neck and chest.
Sentencing Hayes yesterday, Mr Justice Smith said "drugs had played a vital part" in the killing. He said both men had been taking drugs in the flat on the night of the fatal stabbing.
Hayes was described as a "slow learner" who left school at 14. He had a "history of criminal activity to feed his drug addiction", the judge said. He had taken into account that there was no violence in Hayes's earlier offences.
The trial had heard that Hayes was staying at the flat where his sister and her boyfriend, Mr Moore, were living. There had been "serious difficulties and violence" between Mr Moore and Ms Hayes. During one argument Mr Moore hit her with a bunch of keys in his fist, and she moved out of the flat. A week later he was found dead on the balcony of the flat.
Hayes admitted stabbing Mr Moore three times but claimed a second man grabbed the knife and continued attacking Mr Moore. A palm-print made in blood on one of two knifes found at the scene was matched to that of Hayes.
Mr Justice Smith suspended the last two years of the sentence provided the defendant remains drugfree during his prison term.