A 27-year-old man with a history of mental illness has been jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter of a homeless man in Limerick two-and-a-half years ago.
Anthony McMahon of Raheen Square, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, had denied the murder of Mr Anthony O'Shea (40) on September 29th, 2001.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court in Limerick yesterday found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on a unanimous verdict.
During the trial, evidence was heard that Mr O'Shea was stabbed to death following a row on Denmark Street in Limerick.
The accused - who was suffering from schizophrenia - had been discharged from the acute psychiatric unit at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick just nine days before the fatal stabbing.
Two Danish tourists who witnessed the row which led to Mr O'Shea's death chased the accused man with golf clubs and managed to knock the knife from his hand. Ahead of sentencing at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Det Sergeant Eamon O'Neill spoke in court on behalf of the victim's family.
The court heard that Mr O'Shea was not a "wino" and he had suffered a very tragic experience when his sister died, which had caused him to abuse alcohol.
Mr O'Shea has four children growing up in normal circumstances in society and they miss their father, the court heard.
The O'Shea family held no ill feeling towards the accused man and they wanted to thank the jury for their verdict, the court heard.
Mr Justice Paul Carney observed that Mr O'Shea's family had taken a "very handsome and generous attitude" towards the accused man. He added that if the accused was in his full mental health, then he would have considered a custodial sentence of some 14 years.
However, he accepted that McMahon was mentally ill at the time and had no previous convictions of any note. He jailed McMahon for 10 years - backdated to September 2001 - and recommended that he receive appropriate medical treatment.