A YOUTH WHO was 15 when he stabbed a man to death after the deceased taunted him over his father\u2019s suicide has been sentenced to one year and four months detention.<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s family previously told the court the defendant deserves a second chance, and they didn\u2019t want his life \u201cto stop here too\u201d.<\/p>\n
The deceased\u2019s parents said their son, whom they \u201cloved dearly\u201d, had \u201cstruggled with alcohol\u201d and had been told a few months before he died that \u201chis days were numbered\u201d because of it.<\/p>\n
They described their son\u2019s death as \u201cinevitable\u201d and said they did not want the defendant to have to \u201cpay the price\u201d for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe he deserves a second chance,\u201d they said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want his life to stop here too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Central Criminal Court previously heard that the two stab wounds inflicted on the victim \u2013 one which punctured his left lung and another which caused a 2cm laceration to his liver \u2013 would likely have been survivable were it not for the deceased\u2019s underlying health problems and issues with alcohol.<\/p>\n
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 which his dead father had given to the defendant shortly before his death.<\/p>\n
Passing sentence at the Central Criminal Court today, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said this case was \u201csimply a profound tragedy\u201d for all involved.<\/p>\n
He noted the victim\u2019s parents\u2019 hope that the defendant be given a \u201cchance in life\u201d and their concerns for his future.<\/p>\n
However, he said he was not satisfied that this is a case that should be regarded as \u201cso exceptional\u201d that a wholly suspended term should be imposed.<\/p>\n
The judge sentenced the teenager to three years and six months detention but suspended the final 26 months for a period of two years.<\/p>\n
He said this was necessary to \u201cmark the seriousness of the offence\u201d but also to provide some positive supports to the defendant in the future.<\/p>\n
He said he recognised that \u201cthis boy\u2019s life has been in turmoil\u201d since his father\u2019s suicide and he was of the view that a period of detention was necessary.<\/p>\n
He said there should also be \u201cclose engagement\u201d with the probation services and other agencies going forward to \u201caddress self-regulation\u201d and to give the teenager direction, with further supports when he is released from detention.<\/p>\n
He said the defendant should also receive any necessary psychological and mental health supports he may require.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice McDermott noted the defendant is now aged 17 and five months. He said given the \u201cpositive aspects\u201d of the teenager\u2019s character and his \u201cpositive attitude\u201d, he was \u201cstrongly recommending\u201d that the youth serve the entirety of his detention at Oberstown Children\u2019s Detention Centre.<\/p>\n
He said there is provision for this in the Children\u2019s Act despite the fact the youth will \u201cage out\u201d before his term of detention is completed.<\/p>\n
Before imposing sentence, Mr Justice McDermott noted the defendant had just turned 15 when he found his father\u2019s body following his suicide, something which undoubtedly would have been \u201ca deeply traumatic experience for a boy of that age\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice McDermott said the victim had made comments to the teenager about his late father that were \u201cdeeply hurtful and offensive\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court previously heard that a woman who witnessed the stabbing told garda\u00ed there had been an argument between the deceased and the defendant over a pair of runners.<\/p>\n
She said they were shouting at each other and the deceased had \u201ctaunted\u201d the youth about \u201cnot having been able to save his father from suicide\u201d.<\/p>\n
The woman said during the argument, the victim pulled a knife sharpener out of a drawer to \u201cfrighten off\u201d the defendant, before she saw the teenager with a small knife in his hand and saw him stab the deceased in his left side.<\/p>\n
A 14-year-old who also saw the stabbing take place told garda\u00ed he saw the defendant hit the deceased with his fist before walking towards him again and \u201cdarting\u201d at him a number of times with a knife.<\/p>\n
Emergency services were called shortly after 2pm and the injured man was treated by paramedics at the scene before being brought to hospital.<\/p>\n
The defendant accepted he had stabbed the deceased.<\/p>\n
He said the victim \u201cgot into his face\u201d, continued to verbally abuse him and was \u201cacting crazy\u201d.<\/p>\n
The teenager told garda\u00ed 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 \u201conce or twice\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice McDermott noted the situation had \u201cescalated quickly\u201d with both parties reacting to each other and \u201cemotions running very high\u201d.<\/p>\n
The judge said the fact that a number of attempts appeared to have been made to stab the victim in the course of the interaction between the two was a serious matter. He said the fact the stab wounds contributed to the death of the victim was \u201ccentral to the case\u201d.<\/p>\n
He noted the deceased was a single man who had \u201cproblems with alcohol\u201d for a number of years.<\/p>\n
He said the victim, who had a history of chronic liver disease, was initially treated for his injuries in hospital but developed \u201cmultiple complications\u201d. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The judge said State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers had noted the stab wound could potentially have been survivable in a healthy individual.<\/p>\n
He said the victim was in \u201cvery poor health\u201d which compromised his recovery from his wounds.<\/p>\n
He said there was nothing \u201cpre-planned\u201d or \u201cpre-meditated\u201d in the assault, noting the defendant had been \u201cgoaded\u201d and \u201cjeered at\u201d by the victim who had armed himself with a knife sharpener at some stage during the altercation.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice McDermott said following the incident, the youth has suffered from depression and PTSD and had \u201cfleeting suicidal ideation\u201d. He said the teenager has received psychological support, and ongoing support will be necessary in the future.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice McDermott said the appropriate headline sentence had the defendant been an adult was eight years.<\/p>\n
The judge said there was \u201cvery substantial mitigation in this case\u201d, including the plea of guilty, the defendant\u2019s expression of remorse and the fact he has no previous convictions. He noted the teenager was described in reports as a \u201cpolite, kind, gentle and engaging boy with a love of animals\u201d.<\/p>\n
He set a headline sentence of five years after taking the teenager\u2019s youth into consideration, before reducing this further after mitigation to three years and six months with the final 26 months suspended.<\/p>\n
If you need to talk, contact:\n<\/p>\n
HUGG, Support After Suicide, 01 513 4048, email support@HUGG.ie or visit HUGG.ie
\nPieta House 1800 247 247 or email mary@pieta.ie
\nSamaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
\nAware 1800 80 48 48
\nTeen-Line Ireland 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
\nChildline 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A YOUTH WHO was 15 when he stabbed a man to death after the deceased taunted him over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42851,54,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-674132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-central-criminal-court","tag-courts","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}