A homeless man has lost his appeal against his conviction and 12-year sentence for the manslaughter of another man in a derelict house in Cork city.
William Carroll (56), of no fixed address, was jailed in June 2002 after being convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of the manslaughter of Mr Thomas Harte (40), of Allen's Square, Ballymacthomas, Cork.
Mr Harte died after receiving multiple blows to the body - 67 in all - during an assault inflicted in a derelict house on Leitrim Street in the city between May 19th and 20th 1997.
The trial was told that the assault weapons had included a toaster, an ornate brass plant-pot holder and an aluminium tube.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster gave evidence to the trial that the cause of death was asphyxia because of the inhalation of blood due to blunt-force trauma to the head.
Carroll's appeal against conviction and sentence was heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
The three-judge court dismissed the appeal against conviction on all grounds and also held that the 12-year sentence imposed, in light of all the circumstances of the case, betrayed no error in principle to justify its alteration.