A man from Carlow has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for the manslaughter of a teenage father- of-one whom he stabbed to death in a row in Carlow town in 2001.
Passing sentence on John Dillon at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday, Mr Justice White said a "loud and clear message must go forth" that the use of knives for violence would not be tolerated.
"As a result of your actions, a young infant girl is left bereft of the support, companionship and affection of her father," he said.
Dillon (22), Granby Row, Carlow, was convicted of the manslaughter of Warren Slater (17) at Granby Row, Carlow, on May 13th, 2001, by a unanimous jury verdict one month ago.
Mr Justice White said that while the minimum sentence he sought to impose was 20 years, he took into account Dillon's "relative youth", his low intellect and the remorse he had shown as mitigating factors.
Dillon admitted attacking Mr Slater but claimed he acted in self-defence.
He said he was provoked by Mr Slater, who he alleged had tried to rape his mother some weeks before the fatal incident. Mr Slater choked on his own blood after being stabbed three times by Dillon in an argument outside his home.
When arrested by gardaí, Dillon said he thought Mr Slater had a knife behind his back and that he was going to stab him or his mother. "He came at me, I thought he was going to stab me. I didn't mean to stab him . . . I will go to jail, I did not mean to kill him," he said.
During the nine-day trial, the court heard evidence from Ms Louise Heary, Mr Slater's girlfriend, that Dillon got involved in an argument with him in the early hours of May 13th after she had asked him to accompany her across the road where Mr Slater was at a party.
At this time of Mr Slater's death, Ms Heary lived with him and their six-month-old baby girl in a downstairs bedsit of the same house in which Mr Dillon lived with his mother and his sister.
The couple had a row earlier in the evening and although Dillon was hesitant in going with her, he told the court that he agreed to because she "insisted".
In his evidence, Dillon said that when Mr Slater emerged from the house, a "shouting match" developed between the couple. Then, when Mr Slater saw him, "he kind of started with me straight away then, because of what happened with my mother", he said.
Dillon's mother, Ms Noeleen Dillon, told the trial that she was "nearly being raped" by Mr Slater a couple of weeks before the stabbing.
She said that Mr Slater mentioned the alleged attempted rape during the row with her son on the street.
She said she heard her son say: "You tried to rape my mother" and then heard Mr Slater say: "So what?" or words to that effect. Ms Dillon said her son "just flipped" after that exchange and that he ran into the house and returned with a knife.
Dillon said that he could not remember exactly what happened because he was "in a rage" at the time. Evidence emerged that he had been on medication for anger-management a year earlier and he told gardaí he had a terrible temper.
In her evidence, the Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, said the "most significant wound" was to Mr Slater's neck and had cut through two major vessels, the jugular and carotid artery.
She concluded that the cause of death was haemorrhage and inhalation of blood due to a stab wound to his neck and as a contributory factor, the stab wound to his chest.
Leave to appeal was refused.