Two brothers have been acquitted of the murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of a 30 year old man stabbed to death in Killarney.
Gerard O'Riordan and Shane O'Riordan were both found not guilty of the murder of James Brazier at a house in Pinewood Estate, Killarney on April 15th 2007 by a jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork this evening.
The jury took 2 hours and 45 minutes to find both brothers not guilty of the murder charge but they found them both guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Brazier who died from multiple stab wounds.
Mr Justice Barry White remanded both accused in custody to appear in court tomorrow morning when he will consider the question of whether to sentence tomorrow or at a later date.
The jury also found Gerard O'Riordan guilty of a second charge of assault causing harm to James Brazier at the same location on the same occasion and he has also been remanded in custody on that charge until tomorrow.
The jury heard evidence during the trial of how Shane and Gerard O'Riordan had gained entry to the home of a then 15 year old girl with whom Shane O'Riordan had been going out up to just days earlier.
They heard evidence that the two accused went to the girl's bedroom where they found the deceased, Mr Brazier in his boxer shorts in bed with the girl who was wearing a thong and string top.
Shane O'Riordan admitted to gardaí that he flew into a rage and picked up a knife he saw on a bedside locker and stabbed Mr Brazier a number of times in the back.
Gerard O'Riordan told gardaí that he hit Mr Brazier with his fist around the head, hauled him from the bed and hit him with a kitchen chair with metal legs during the attack.
Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster told the trial that Mr Brazier died from shock and haemorrhage and a collapsed lung due to multiple stab wounds.
And she told Gerard O'Riordan's defence counsel, Tom Creed SC that while Mr Brazier had suffered bruising from being punched and hit with the chair, none of those injuries caused his death.
Yesterday prosecution counsel, Michael Durack said that state believed that the two men had gone to the house to give Mr Brazier a good hiding and that they did so in a joint enterprise.
However Shane O'Riordan's counsel, Paddy McEntee said that it was open to the jury to consider a defence of provocation where his client saw his ex-girlfriend in bed with another man and lost control.
If they believed Shane O'Riordan lost self control upon seeing Mr Brazier in bed with his ex-girlfriend and was unable to stop himself from committing homicide they could return a manslaughter verdict, he said.
