A Dundalk man was jailed for life yesterday after he was convicted at the Central Criminal Court of murdering his wife with a bread-knife.
There were violent scenes shortly afterwards when an onlooker attacked the convicted man as he was being led away from the courtroom.
Gardai had to restrain the attacker and led him from the lobby of the courts as others shouted at and taunted the convicted man.
The jury of eight men and four women spent one hour 44 minutes considering its verdict.
James McDonagh (28), with an address at Slieve Foy Park, Muirhevnamore, Dundalk, Co Louth, had pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife, Sheila McDonagh (26), with a 9 in kitchen bread-knife on September 12th, 1997.
After hearing the jury's unanimous verdict, Mr Justice O'Donovan told McDonagh he had been found guilty of murder and the sentence was imprisonment for life, to which McDonagh replied: "Thank you."
During the four-day trial, five witnesses testified in court that they saw McDonagh go up to his wife and stab her.
But McDonagh said in evidence that his wife had "come back up into the knife" from a horizontal position and that at no time had he meant to cause her any harm.
McDonagh said shortly after the stabbing he had told his wife he was sorry and he did not mean it. "I couldn't believe it happened," he said.