The jury in the trial of six New Ross people charged over a fracas in a pub in the town during the summer of 2003 - which resulted in the death of Swedish street trader Lars Forsmark - returned a guilty verdict in respect of three of the defendants yesterday.
The three, Anthony O'Leary, Raymond Kelly and Ian Bolger, had all pleaded not guilty to violent disorder.
The jury in Wexford Circuit Criminal Court returned a verdict of not guilty in respect of the other three defendants: Sinead Kane, Stephen Bolger and Owen Lennon.
Judge Patrick McCartan sentenced O'Leary, Kelly and Ian Bolger to three years' imprisonment.
He sentenced Jason Murphy to 12 months' imprisonment in respect of his guilty plea to the lesser charge of affray.
He then proposed that the sentences be suspended saying : "Everyone deserves a second chance."
He also ordered that each of the four who were sentenced donate €2,500 to the Victims' Support Group, suggesting that such a gesture would be an adequate way to pay tribute to Mr Forsmark.
He also ordered that each of the defendants found guilty by the jury enter into a bond of €1,000 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three years, and 12 months in respect of Jason Murphy.
Judge McCartan said Mr Forsmark was "a young man who departed this life and who was cremated and returned to Sweden".
Reviewing the evidence he said: "The strangers were seriously out-numbered in the pub [ that night] by those who were hostile towards them."
He said the court could not avoid the fact that Mr Forsmark died but went on to say that "no one particular injury caused his demise" and that alcohol had also played a part in his death.
However, he said: "Each of the three accused found guilty by the jury stand responsible for everything that occurred." He commented on the fact that Jason Murphy - a 10th defendant in the trial - had pleaded guilty to affray from an early stage in the investigation. "His plea reflects genuine remorse," he said.
Judge McCartan highlighted the fact that none of the evidence presented during the trial established any one of the defendants as "laying any blow on the late Mr Forsmark".
He pointed to the fact that Anthony O'Leary was "at all times in a different location to Mr Forsmark during the row".
"He violently kicked a man on the ground but one can only assume that was Mr Coleman [ a friend of the dead man]," he said. "None of the accused engaged in violence on Mr Forsmark." However, the judge did say that "something happened to him that night which was either unseen by the witnesses or ignored".
"His injuries were multiple and mostly to the upper body," he said. The State accepted that what happened in Wickham's Pub that night began at the hands of the strangers.
He said Det Garda Mick Cleere and Det Sgt Brendan Kelly "could not have said more" in defence of the reputation of those found guilty by the court.