Two men have been jailed for life for the murder of a school teacher who was viciously beaten to death and robbed in a Limerick public park.
Noel Carmody (42) suffered more than 100 separate injuries after he was savagely assaulted and left lying in a pool of blood in Arthur's Quay Park, Limerick, on September 27th, 2003.
Mr Carmody, who was a member of Amnesty International, had taught economics and maths to second-level students before his violent death.
At the Central Criminal Court in Limerick yesterday evening, Darren Wallace (21), Assumpta Park, Lee Estate, Limerick, and Jonathan Tuohy (20), Edward Street, Limerick, were convicted of Mr Carmody's murder after a unanimous jury decision.
The jury of six men and six women also found both accused guilty of robbing the school teacher from Ballingarry, Co Limerick, on the same date.
The jury returned the guilty verdicts after three hours of deliberations at the end of the six-week trial.
Both Wallace and Tuohy - who had more than 40 previous convictions between them - had denied all the charges.
The court heard Garda evidence yesterday that Mr Carmody, a single man, who had been actively involved in voluntary work in the community for most of his adult life, was a "particularly vulnerable victim".
During the trial, defence counsel for Jonathan Tuohy had contended that the accused was provoked into the savage attack when he allegedly saw Mr Carmody involved in a sexual act with another man.
However, Det Garda Brian Sugrue told the court yesterday that it was the view of gardaí that Noel Carmody was not involved in any sex act in Arthur's Quay Park.
Jonathan Tuohy, who had 21 previous convictions, was on bail at the time of the murder after he pleaded guilty to robbing a taxi-driver at knife-point and was awaiting sentence.
Wallace - who had 20 previous convictions - was unlawfully at large at the time of the murder having failed to return to Mountjoy Prison where he was serving a sentence for assault while on temporary release.
During the six-week trial, evidence was heard that Tuohy admitted hitting Mr Carmody with an iron bar up to 15 times - whereas Wallace had claimed that he took no part in the horrific beating.
Wallace further claimed that he had managed to pull an iron bar out of the hands of his co-accused, whom, he claimed, carried out the savage beating of Mr Carmody.
When gardaí arrived at the scene, they saw Wallace "crouching over" Mr Carmody's badly beaten body.
Wallace's fingerprints were also found on an iron bar, the trial heard.
The trial also heard Garda evidence that when Wallace was arrested in Arthur's Quay Park he was found with a visa receipt and a bus ticket belonging to Mr Carmody.
Mr Carmody's pockets had been turned inside out and his shoes and socks had been removed by his attackers, who were searching for his property.
The shoes and socks were never recovered in the subsequent Garda investigation and it now appears that they may have been thrown into the River Shannon.
Following yesterday's guilty verdict, a sister of the late school teacher, Ms Maureen Carmody, told the court that her murdered brother had been actively involved in Amnesty International and various voluntary groups for much of his life.
"Noel was a decent man and he did not deserve to die in this way. He was a very sociable and independent man; you might say he had no sense of danger, and he did not deserve to die like this. Noel's character is now vindicated by this result," said the murder victim's sister.
Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed mandatory life sentences on both accused on the murder conviction and he sentenced them to seven years' imprisonment for the robbery, with both sentences to run concurrently.
After passing sentence, Mr Justice Carney told the court that since the Central Criminal Court began sitting in Limerick last year a total of 13 people have been convicted of murder while a further three people have been convicted of manslaughter.
"Both accused are now serving life sentences within 11 months of this outrage. This is what the criminal justice system is capable of achieving," said Mr Justice Carney.