An Irishman who murdered a fellow national has been sentenced life in jail with a 17-year minimum in Western Australia.
Vincent Crowe killed Wexford man Kenyon “Kenny” Meyler (21) while high on drugs on February 10th, 2013.
The men were working in Perth, but did not know each other, although on the night before the stabbing they had been drinking with mutual friends.
Crowe (35) told the Western Australia supreme court he did not remember the attack because he had drunk a lot of alcohol and taken a drug called mephedrone, also known as meow meow.
He admitted the less serious offence of unlawful killing, but the jury convicted him of murder.
Crowe confessed to stabbing Mr Meyler in the neck in a flat in the Perth suburb of Scarborough.
He had become fixated on a minor verbal dispute between one of his friends and Mr Meyler, despite that having been resolved with a handshake.
During sentencing submissions, Crowe's lawyer Judith Fordham argued it was not possible for him to have intended to kill, given the mephedrone left him with an absence of understanding about what had happened.
Ms Fordham said Crowe had taken heroin in the past, but had not taken mephedrone before and was therefore not aware it would have an aggressive effect on him.
“He couldn’t be expected to have known,” she said. “This was an act brought about by the psychological effect of this particular drug.”
But Justice Robert Mitchell said Crowe's drug taking explained his conduct but did not excuse it, and memory loss was not a mitigating factor.
It was the second time Crowe stood trial in this case, after another jury was unable to reach a verdict in October 2014.
Mr Meyler’s mother Melanie read out her victim impact statement in court, saying the fact Crowe put the family through two trials showed how cruel he was.
She said her son did not like drugs and was much loved.
“I am lost without Kenny. A part of me left with my son. My world fell apart.”
