A man has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his sister’s partner in Co Mayo last year.
Fintan McKenna (24), of Woodlands, Balla, Castlebar had denied the murder of Francis ‘Frankie’ Heneghan in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo on August 12th, 2009
Mr Heneghan, a construction worker and father of three, bleed to death in a laneway seconds after being stabbed eleven times.
After four hours and 37 minutes of deliberations over two days, the jury of eight women and four men brought in a majority verdict of 10/ 2 on the tenth day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The prosecution argued McKenna, originally from Artane in Dublin, did not get on with Mr Heneghan. At the time of the killing there was considerable animosity between the pair because Mr Heneghan was cheating on Grace McKenna, the sister of the accused.
They claimed McKenna stabbed Mr Heneghan 11 times following an altercation in a laneway at the side of the Tavern pub in Kiltimagh.
McKenna admitted to gardaí he stabbed Mr Heneghan twice in the chest in self-defence, but insisted he could not have killed him. McKenna told gardaí in interviews he took the knife to protect himself because he was afraid of Mr Heneghan, who he claimed had “cut people up” in the past.
In his closing speech, defence counsel Martin Giblin told the jury the correct verdict in the case was not guilty of murder or at most guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of self-defence. He described the victim as “seething with rage” and claimed McKenna was subjected to a savage attack in a dark laneway and he took steps to defend himself.
Mr Justice John Edwards remanded McKenna to appear in court again on Monday, December 20th for sentencing