The Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) has reduced from 11 to six years the sentence imposed on a Co Kerry man for the manslaughter of his uncle whose body was found in a well on the family farm.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court found Eugene Daly (31) guilty of the manslaughter of his uncle, Mr Paddy Daly, at Kilcummin, Killarney, on January 18th, 1996. The jury acquitted him on a charge of murder.
Mr Paddy Daly died from severe head injuries.
The trial heard Mr Daly's body was dumped in a well near his farmhouse after his brother, Seán Daly, father of Eugene Daly, attacked him with an iron bar.
Eugene Daly admitted he was present during the attack and that he threw his uncle's body down a deep well.
Seán Daly was also charged with murder but he died in 2000.
Giving the judgment yesterday of the three-judge CCA on Eugene Daly's appeal against sentence, Mr Justice Kearns said the trial judge, Mr Justice Abbott, had imposed a sentence of 10 years and 11 months to date from September 1st, 2003.
Mr Justice Kearns, sitting with Mr Justice Lavan and Mr Justice O'Leary, said this was the kind of case which occurred from time to time in rural areas, where a lack of social contact produced strange events.
This had been a dreadful deed but the court was satisfied, so far as Eugene Daly was concerned, that he was not the prime mover in what happened.