A Co Limerick man was yesterday found not guilty at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of his brother-in-law on Easter Sunday morning over three years ago.
Mr Patrick Sheridan (33), of Old Barrack View, Rathkeale, had denied killing his sister's 30-year-old husband, David Sheridan, of Fairhill, also in Rathkeale.
David Sheridan died in the early hours of April 15th, 2001, after being stabbed in the chest, allegedly with a screwdriver, at Patrick Sheridan's father's house in Rathkeale.
During the course of the two-week trial, the court heard that on Easter Saturday night, the victim had approached Patrick Sheridan in a local pub and struck him on the head.
The court heard evidence from the pub owner, Eileen Whelan, that David Sheridan was then escorted out of the pub and the accused received a pint as "a thank you for not responding, and behaving properly".
The victim had already been refused drink on the basis he had enough, and later that night he was refused entry twice to his nephew's engagement party for being too aggressive.
Later, in the early hours of Sunday morning, after finally gaining entry to the engagement party, David Sheridan called to the accused's home, a caravan in his parents' yard. Mr Patrick Sheridan snr and his son, the accused, came out of the house and a fight ensued.
A nephew of the victim, Patrick Culligan (18), told the jury he saw the accused go back into the house, before emerging with a screwdriver, which he "sunk" into David Sheridan's chest. Post-mortem results later indicated that David Sheridan died of a single, penetrative wound to the heart.
According to a local garda sergeant, there were about 200 people at the scene when he arrived.
However, apart from Mr Culligan, who was 15 at the time, nobody seemed to know there had been a stabbing. Some believed David Sheridan had collapsed from over-indulgence in alcohol, while others thought he had a heart attack.
After being stabbed, he had actually got up and walked almost 30 metres and spoken to his wife. Gardaí testified that, despite the victim being naked from the waist up, they noticed no blood. The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, said this was not unusual; victims of heart stabbings can walk and talk for up to two minutes before collapsing and the external wound on Mr Sheridan had caused little bleeding.
Mr Patrick Sheridan, whose wife, Mary, had given birth to their third baby a week beforehand, was arrested that night and charged with his brother-in-law's murder.
Yesterday, the jury delivered a unanimous verdict of not guilty.