THE slight, middle aged man with thick glasses stood silently at the back of Court 14, staring at the young man in jeans. As the back of the courtroom began to fill, David Forman moved forward slightly to maintain his view of the man convicted of killing his 86 year old father.
Wayne Kinsella's statement, read to the court, told how he had tried to rob Thomas Forman as he was putting flowers on the grave in Glasnevin of his wife Ellen Mary, who had died 21 years earlier. "I needed money for a few pints," Kinsella had told gardai. David Forman maintained his stare.
Before his case in the Dublin Circuit Court began, Kinsella sat handcuffed to a garda while a young pregnant woman talked to him from the bench behind. She put her arm around his shoulder. He kissed her and smiled at her.
Kinsella had a two inch scar on his left hand, and what appeared to be a tatooed heart and dotted line etched on his wrist. As he sat, he bounced his heels in a pair of Nike trainers, with the laces untied.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Greg Murphy SC described how Thomas Forman went to his wife's grave every Saturday. Kinsella leaned forward from the bench, heels tapping.
As Mr Murphy outlined how Thomas Forman died from a large blood clot on his brain, Kinsella shook his head gently and lowered it. Mr Murphy said the State pathologist found that Mr Forman's injuries were consistent with "a single blow from another party". Kinsella looked at his hands.
As Mr Murphy went on to describe the rest of Mr Forman's injuries, Kinsella summoned his solicitor and pointed angrily at someone in court.
Kinsella's father and elder brother sat in the back row. His father looked haggard and remained impassive as the defence counsel described Kinsella as the black sheep in a family of 11. He was the only one who had been in trouble.
After lunch, David Forman was joined by two nephews - grandsons of Thomas Forman. The angry young men stood at the back behind Kinsella's family.
Kinsella stood to receive his sentence and shifted from foot to foot as Judge Kelly summed up. There was a slight scuffle as he shouted at someone across the courtroom after sentencing. His father laid a hand on his arm.
In the court lobby, David Forman sat with his two nephews. Wayne Kinsella's family stood less than 10 feet away. They did not look in the Formans direction.
Outside the courthouse, gardai threatened to arrest the younger Formans if they did not move away before Kinsella was led out. "My grandad died," one of them shouted. David Forman had not waited to see Kinsella bundled into a Garda van. A few minutes earlier, he had walked away.
