A MAN and woman who were cleared of murder three years ago are now to to be sentenced on charges of violent disorder after a further court hearing yesterday.
The judge will pass sentence on Thursday.
During their sentence hearing yesterday, Rachel McKeown read a victim impact statement on behalf of her family, saying they wished to express the “sorrow, anguish and pain” they still felt three years after her brother’s sudden and tragic death.
Michael Cruise (19) and Louise Wall (22) went on trial for the murder of Darren McKeown (29) last July, but the State’s case against them collapsed when the trial judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict them on that charge.
This followed evidence that the principal cause of Mr McKeown’s death was a head injury caused when he fell backwards and banged his head off the ground, after being pushed by a youth who was not on trial.
They had both denied murdering Mr McKeown, who worked as a barber, at a Christmas Day party in the Rowan Heights estate in Drogheda in 2007.
Cruise, Cranmore, Clogherhead, Co Louth, and Wall, Donore Avenue, Ballsgrove, Drogheda, both pleaded guilty to violent disorder, however, following the collapse of their trial for murder.
During the case, the two admitted to kicking Mr McKeown in the head as he lay on the ground following the alcohol and drug-fuelled house party they had all attended together.
Wall also admitted to “stamping on his head and chest” and hitting him with a glass ashtray.