A Dublin man was jailed today for ten years for strangling his friend after a drinking session.
Thomas O'Reilly (33), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ben Carolan (58) at Saint George's Place on April 21st, 2005.
Mr Carolan was originally from Virgina, Co Cavan, but had been living in the north inner city for a number of years.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard O'Reilly casually put his dead friend back in bed after killing him and later claimed he thought he was asleep.O'Reilly gave himself up a number of days later after being contacted by his girlfriend.
Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced him to ten years in prison with the last two suspended. A number of medical and psychiatric reports were submitted to the court claiming that alcohol was a major factor in the killing.
The court was told O'Reilly had suffered years of physical abuse at the hands of his mother. O'Reilly, who has a history of depression and has been taking medication for several years had also been abusing alcohol for a long period.
But Judge Hogan told the court the bottom line was that a life had been lost.
"I don't know what the description was of what he did and what he did afterwards and in the manner he did it, I don't know how to describe it but it appears to be casual in the extreme," the judge told the court. "But the bottom line is that a life was snuffed out and there is no excuse for that."
The court heard the pair, who had a volatile relationship, had been drinking together in the flat with O'Reilly claiming to have drunk ten cans of beer but staying sober.
They knew each other for 12 years and during that time Mr Carolan had taunted O'Reilly mentally and emotionally and struck him with his walking stick on a number of occasions, the court heard. But never before had O'Reilly reacted in such a violent manner.