The family of a man who was stabbed to death after he taunted his 15-year-old killer over his father’s suicide has told a sentencing hearing the defendant deserves a second chance.
The Central Criminal Court heard the two stab wounds inflicted on the victim – one which punctured his left lung and another which caused a 2cm laceration to his liver – would likely have been survivable were it not for the deceased’s underlying health problems and issues with alcohol.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the deceased’s parents described the 38-year-old victim as “a good boy” whom they “loved dearly”.
However, they said he had “struggled with alcohol” and had been told a few months before he died that “his days were numbered” because of it.
They described their son’s death as “inevitable” and said they did not want the defendant to have to “pay the price” for it.
“We believe he deserves a second chance,” they said. “We don’t want his life to stop here too.”
The 38-year-old victim was brought to hospital following the stabbing, where he was treated for his injuries. However, his condition deteriorated and he died a number of weeks later.
The court heard the teenager stabbed the man after a confrontation in which the deceased suggested the youth could have saved his father, who had died by suicide weeks earlier.
The following day the youth confronted the deceased believing he had taken runners that his dead father had given to the defendant shortly before his death.
The now 17-year-old, who cannot be named because he is a juvenile, was originally charged with murdering a man at a location in the south of the country on March 10th, 2025.
However, when he was arraigned before the Central Criminal Court in July, he pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The plea was accepted by the State.
Det Garda Padraig O’Leary told Dean Kelly, prosecuting, the stabbing had been witnessed by a woman and a 14-year-old boy.
The detective outlined to the court that the accused’s father had taken his own life some weeks before the incident and the defendant had discovered his body.
The woman told gardaí that on March 9th, 2025, the deceased had made a number of comments to the accused about his father which “weren’t too nice”.
She said the following day an argument started between the deceased and the accused over a pair of runners.
The pair argued and the deceased pulled a knife sharpener out of a drawer “to frighten off the accused” before she saw the defendant with a small knife in his hand and saw him stab the deceased in his left side.
In a subsequent statement to gardaí, the woman said during the argument on March 10th, the victim and the defendant were shouting at each other and the deceased had “taunted” the youth about “not having been able to save his father from suicide”.
She said it was clear the comments caused “hurt and upset” to the defendant.
The 14-year-old told gardaí he saw the defendant with a “hunting knife” in his hand and he could tell both parties were angry.
The defendant hit the deceased with his fist before walking towards him again and “darting” at him a number of times with the knife, the boy told gardaí.
Emergency services were called shortly after 2pm and the injured man was treated by paramedics at the scene before being brought to hospital.
When interviewed, the defendant accepted he had stabbed the victim but initially said it happened when he was cutting a piece of rope.
He later told gardaí the injured man had been drunk the night before the stabbing and had shouted that the defendant had “done nothing” to save his father.
The following day he couldn’t find the runners his father bought him and believed the victim had them. He said the deceased “got into his face”, continued to verbally abuse him and was “acting crazy”.
The teenager told gardaí the victim pulled a knife sharpener out of a drawer and tried to hit him with it before he stabbed the man with a black folding knife “once or twice”.
The court heard the 17-year-old defendant has no previous convictions.
Kelly said the Director of Public Prosecution’s view was that the offence lay in the medium category and would attract a headline sentence of between four and 10 years before taking the defendant’s youth at the time into account.
The barrister asked the court to consider not imposing an immediate custodial sentence in the “very, very unusual circumstances” of this case.
Judge Paul McDermott said he would consider all the submissions made and adjourned the matter to October 30th.
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