A MAN who killed his best friend in a drunken row over an English football match has been jailed for two years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Alan Kelly (34) had in effect sentenced himself to life imprisonment for causing the death of Mr Joseph Flood, the man he regarded as his only friend said Judge Joseph Mathews who described the case as "a tragedy of Titanic proportions which has shattered the lives of two families".
The judge said he accepted that Kelly's remorse for the death of his friend from school days was huge and would be with him forever. The reports showed he faced emotional ruin in his own life because he was unable to live with the horror of what he done.
Kelly, of Congress Gardens, Glasthule, Co Dublin admitted the unlawful killing of Mr Flood (34) at George's Street, Dun Laoghaire in the early hours of August 29th, 1995.
Mr Erwan Mill Arden SC, for Kelly, said his client was so devastated and consumed by feelings of sorrow he could not convey his grief to the Flood family and had asked counsel to do so. If he could do anything to change the situation back again he would do so.
Mr Mill Arden said in more than 30 years' experience in the courts he had never come across anyone so consumed by remorse as Kelly. Nothing the court could do would equal the punishment he had dealt himself. Kelly had also attempted to injure himself as a result.
Det Sgt John Jennings said Kelly and the dead man spent most of August 28th, 1995 drinking in various pubs. They watched the soccer match between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers on television in one pub.
Det Sgt Jennings told Mr Conor Devalley, prosecuting, that the men drank about eight or nine pints and were refused more drink in two pubs late that night. They then went to the Abrakebabra fast food cafe in George's Street, Dun Laoghaire, where a row broke out between them.
Kelly pulled Mr Flood to the ground and kicked him several times before they left the premises. They had a further altercation on the street and Mr Flood fell to the ground again. He did not rise and Kelly pulled him in from the middle of the street to the safety of the kerb.
The detective said Mr Flood was taken to hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. One kick during the row in the Abrakebabra which caught the victim under the chin caused his death. The amount of drink he had consumed left him more vulnerable to the injury.
Kelly was arrested on the street. In his statement to gardai Kelly said: "I've just lost my only friend. We grew up together, walked dogs and raced pigeons together. I'm devastated."
Mr Mill Arden appealed to the judge to "bring down the wand of justice in a manner which would not be unmindful of the circumstances" by imposing a sentence in the lower regions permitted by law.
Judge Mathews said he had to mark the seriousness of the offence by imposing a custodial sentence but in all the circumstances a limited one. He would review the sentence next January.