The most senior Central Criminal Court judge has commented on the large number of immigrants coming before the courts following drunken stabbings.
In sentencing Brazilian immigrant Jose Claudio Domingos, 44, to seven years in prison for the manslaughter of his best friend Alberto Do Prado Oliveira, 47, Mr Justice Paul Carney said the case was a variant of a large number coming before the courts where members of immigrant communities, who did not integrate with the population, gathered and drank spirits and beer in their flats.
"In a typical case, what happens is that when a row develops, there is a knife close at hand, which has been used in the preparation of vegetables, and a single stab from that knife causes death," Mr Justice Carney said.
"This has been a variant of so many cases of that nature coming before us."
Oliveira was killed at a flat in Main St, Charleville, Co Cork on September 21, 2006, where he, Domingos and friends had gathered and were drinking beer and pingo, an illicit Brazilian drink similar to poitín, which one of them had brought to Ireland.
The stabbing happened after a bottom-pinching incident, which, as a matter of cultural difference, "we will never understand", Mr Justice Carney said.
He said Domingos did not object to bottom-pinching from most of his compatriots present but he did object to the deceased man doing it because of how he regarded him.
Domingos went to hug Oliveira, who pushed him to the floor twice. On the third occasion Domingos got up off the floor and grabbed the knife, stabbing Oliveira, cutting his carotid artery.
Domingos and his two friends at the flat decided to tell gardaí and Oliveira's family he had committed suicide. The men then had a "crisis of consience" and decided to tell the truth, Domingos admitting the knife he held killed Oliveira, but saying he never intended to kill him.
The court heard Domingos, Old Limerick Road, Charleville, emigrated to Ireland three years ago, owing debts in Brazil, and was working in a meat factory at Charleville. He was sending money home for his family and paying for his son's university education.
A victim impact statement, from Oliveira's wife, Sueli Abadia, was read to the court by Pauline Walley SC, for the DPP.
Mrs Oliveira had followed her husband to Ireland and was tormented by his death, and her children had started to fight and drink.
"Alberto was killed by someone who was said to be his friend. I asked myself what kind of friend is that?" She said everything ended for her when she stood by her husband's coffin. "I would like the justice to be conscious of my loss and suffering."
Mr Justice Carney said Domingos had "hatched that plot" which aggravated the effect the killing had had on Mrs Oliveira. He said the sentence was higher than a typical one coming from the immigrant community because of the appalling pain inflicted on the widow in telling her it was suicide.
Leave to appeal was refused.