A Dublin man was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing his father over claims he had sexually abused his sisters.
Gary Waters (32), from Oliver Bond House in Dublin 8, stabbed his father John (59) 19 times in the neck and head in a "frenzied" attack, the Central Criminal Court heard.
The father-of-two was tried for murder last year after pleading not guilty. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
The court heard today Waters had "snapped" on December 29th in 2001 when he heard his father talking about the sex abuse allegations in a "cavalier fashion".
Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins said he accepted Waters had been enraged by the allegations his sisters had been abused by their father and he had never been violent before. "It would appear that you simply lost the use of yourself after certain things were said by your father and that there were allegations made against him," the judge said.
"The allegations have been supported by other people and there's no doubt you lost control of yourself in circumstances where you believed your father was dealing in an absolutely uncaring and cavalier fashion towards matters of the utmost seriousness."
He suspended two-and-a-half years of the sentence on the condition that Waters — a one-time heroin addict and alcoholic — agreed to stay drug-free. The sentence was backdated to June 10 in 2002 to compensate for time served awaiting trial.
During the trial last year, two of Waters' sisters told the court that their father had sexually abused them when they were children. The court heard then Waters had told gardaí that his father said to him on the night of his death he had "just fondled them, never penetrated them" prompting his son to lose control.