A man who killed a teenager in "a motiveless crime" within hours of meeting him at a Dublin house party has been jailed for ten years.
Stephen Kearney (20) of Coultry Drive, Ballymun, admitted unlawfully killing Francis Gallagher (18) at Coultry Road on October 25th, 2004.
He also pleaded guilty to making a threat to kill Garda Michael Ryan, in Hughes' Pub in Chancery Street, Dublin, on September 16th, 2004, contrary to Section Five of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Persons' Act.
Judge Michael White imposed a one-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for the threat to kill charge, and for the unlawful killing he gave Kearney a nine-year consecutive sentence, with the final two years suspended on condition that he entered into a probation bond.
Sentencing Kearney, Judge White said that while the defendant's guilty plea and his expression of remorse, as well as that of his family, were mitigating factors he had to consider the aggravating circumstances.
These included the intensity of the attack, which featured repeated kicks to the victim's head as "he lay in a defenceless position, his face had been stamped on, [and] the accused was on bail at the time."
He also noted what he described as the "devastating effects" the killing had on the victim's family.
Det Sgt Matt Murphy told the court the victim never regained consciousness after the assault on him and died on October 27th, 2004.
Emergency services who arrived at the scene said the victim was disfigured and so covered in blood that they could not determine the colour of his skin.