A TAXI driver who stabbed a man who he had found in bed with his ex-girlfriend would avoid conviction if his case was heard in France on the grounds that he had acted to “uphold his honour”, his lawyer told a Donegal court yesterday.
Wilfie Milsop (53), a native of Portadown, now living in Killybegs, Co Donegal, returned home from a pub to find his ex-girlfriend Marie Shiels in his bedroom with another man, Daniel Boyle.
Another couple were also having sex in the taximan’s own bed in the same room.
After seeing the two couples, Milsop went into another room, smashed a wine bottle and grabbed a knife and stabbed Mr Boyle.
Milsop’s lawyer Peter Nolan told Donegal Circuit Court: “In French law it is the right of the cuckolded man to take such action as he sees fit to uphold his honour.”
The court heard that Milsop phoned 999 in the early hours of June 19th, 2007, and reported that he had stabbed a man at his home in Conlin Road, Killybegs.
When gardaí arrived, he told them an ambulance had taken the injured man to hospital.
Garda Elaine Kelly said Milsop was a respectable member of the community who had never before come to Garda attention.
The court heard a statement from Milsop, a separated father of two adult children, in which he said that although he and Ms Shiels split up shortly before the incident it was agreed that she stay on in a separate room in their apartment until she found a place of her own.
Earlier, there was medical evidence that Mr Boyle suffered a two-centimetre stab-wound on the left side of his chest.
The court was told that, while Mr Boyle made the first move against Milsop, he “felt hard done by” and believed he didn’t deserve what Milsop had done to him.
The court was told that Ms Shiels and Milsop, although no longer partners, were good friends again.
The judge said a knife assault would normally carry a jail sentence but there were mitigating factors in this case. He imposed a 12-month jail sentence but suspended it for two years on Milsop undertaking to keep the peace and to donate €1,500 to the St Vincent de Paul Society.