A DRUG ADDICT has been sentenced to nine years for the manslaughter of a drug dealer whose body was found in the boot of a car after he was stabbed to death following a row over drugs.
Steven Penrose (27), of no fixed abode, but formerly of Blanchardstown, Dublin, was found not guilty of murder but guilty at the Central Criminal Court in May of the manslaughter of David Sharkey (28).
He pleaded guilty to killing Mr Sharkey in an apartment at Park View, Blackcastle, Navan, Co Meath, on May 17th, 2009.
In handing down sentence, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he took account of the fact that the killing was perpetrated in the course of a plan to rob the victim and that Penrose purchased the knife in advance.
“It is the experience of this court that those who equip themselves with knives generally end up using them to fatal effect.”
Having regard to Penrose’s history of drug dependency, Mr Justice Carney held that it afforded no defence nor did it provide any mitigation in relation to his responsibility for the killing. In his favour, Mr Justice Carney took account of his early plea of guilty to manslaughter and the genuine remorse he showed, as well as the efforts he had made “to get away from the scourge of drugs”.
During the seven-day trial, the court heard that on the night of the killing, two gardaí stopped a BMW on Dunsink Lane in Finglas. They spoke to the driver, who gave what turned out to be a fake name, then followed the car, finding it abandoned in a halting site. In the boot, gardaí discovered Mr Sharkey’s body. A fingerprint on a bag of blood-stained clothes was later found, which led them to Penrose.
Penrose, a father-of-three, admitted stabbing Mr Sharkey earlier in the evening at an apartment in Navan. He said he had intended to steal heroin from Mr Sharkey, but things went wrong and a struggle ensued during which he stabbed him 13 times.
Mr Justice Carney sentenced Penrose to nine years in prison to date from May 18th, 2009.