A 31-year-old Dublin man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a man he stabbed to death in what was described by the judge as a senseless act of anger and aggression.
Derek Boyd, from Scribblestown Place in Finglas, was last week convicted of murdering Mark Carroll at Boyd’s home on 9 June 2024.
At the time, Boyd had been serving the suspended part of a sentence he received for the manslaughter of his sister who he accidentally shot in 2022. He fled to the UK but returned a year later.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Carroll’s father Kevin Carroll described Derek Boyd as a monster.
He described the “painful and soul-wrenching” experience of the trial, how they had to listen to the “sickening injuries and hurt inflicted on him and how he was taken from us in a vicious and unnecessary act of violence”.
Mark Carroll’s father Kevin said his son was ‘missed but never forgotten’
Mr Carroll said their lives would never be the same again and described his family’s pain at knowing they would never see Mark Carroll again or his “cheeky smile, his high fives and hugs”.
He said the victim’s four children miss him terribly and would now have to “grow up without daddy in their day-to-day lives”.
“Mark’s smile and laughter is only a memory but they are memories we will cherish forever. The emotional suffering will last a lifetime but our love for him will keep us strong as a family.”
Mr Carroll said his son would live on through his beautiful children, adding that he was “missed but never forgotten”.
Judge Melanie Greally described the murder as “senseless” and said it was “an act of anger and aggression that had catastrophic consequences”.
She said she could not imagine how painful it must have been for those close to Mr Carroll to have to listen to the evidence of his last moments.
She imposed the mandatory sentence for murder of life in prison.
Boyd will also be brought before the Circuit Criminal Court later this week in relation to the suspended portion of the sentence he was serving for manslaughter.
The court heard that he had 17 further previous convictions.
Derek Boyd was convicted of murder last week
The murder trial heard the two men and their partners had been drinking together at Boyd’s home on 8 June 2024 when a late night argument started.
Boyd said he told Mr Carroll to leave but said Mr Carroll returned moments later and repeatedly threatened to kill him.
He suffered three stab wounds and died from a 10.5cm wound to the chest which a pathologist described as unsurvivable.
Boyd’s defence team said that he felt threatened and acted out of instinct. Senior Counsel Brendan Grehan said a person was entitled to defend themselves in their own home.
However, the prosecution said it was a determined, murderous attack and Mr Carroll had reasonably returned to the house to sort out an earlier row.
Prosecuting counsel Sean Guerin said Boyd had run away to the UK after the attack and had “beefed up” what happened in the house to make the jury believe he felt under threat.
After almost nine hours of deliberation, the eleven jurors returned a unanimous guilty verdict on the charge of murder.