A 41-year-old father of three from west Cork has been sentenced to two years in jail after he admitted the manslaughter of his second cousin during a roadside row after a day of heavy drinking over the Christmas period.
James O'Driscoll, also known as Jim Bob O'Driscoll, Marsh Road, Skibbereen, pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Philip O'Driscoll (51), Gurranes South, Drimoleague on December 26th, 2005.
Yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said he accepted that James O'Driscoll had felt genuine remorse over the death of his friend and he also accepted that James O'Driscoll was not the instigator of the row and that the killing was not premeditated.
He also accepted that Philip O'Driscoll's widow, Helen, did not want to see him go to jail but he had to take into account that the defendant had 60 previous convictions including five convictions for assault and he sentenced him to two years in jail.
Sgt Tony McCarthy had earlier told the court that the two men had started drinking at the defendant's mobile home at Marsh Road, Skibbereen on St Stephen's Day morning before going to the trotting races at Drimoleague that afternoon.
"They were drinking in Drimoleague for much of the afternoon," Sgt McCarthy said.
On the way back to Skibbereen the two men started to row and got out of a car they were in to fight on the roadside. James O'Driscoll told gardaí that he had punched Philip O'Driscoll a number of times and he fell to the ground, hitting his head. He and another man, who was in the car, thought he had passed out from having too much to drink and put him back in the car but later realised he had no heartbeat.
