Sentence due next week for man who attacked family with knife

A 24-year-old father of one, who attacked four members of a family with his ornamental knife, will be sentenced next week for killing one of them and harming the others.

Dubliner David Brannock was cleared last month of murdering Jason "Jasper" Flannery but found guilty of the manslaughter of the father of three on September 13th, 2012 at St Joseph's Way, Poppintree, Ballymun.

A Central Criminal Court jury also convicted him of causing serious harm to the deceased man's brother in law, John O'Neill, and assault causing harm to Mr Flannery's daughter, Jade Byrne, and son, Anthony Byrne. He was cleared of assault causing harm to their mother, Claire Byrne.

Brannock of St Joseph’s Way, Ballymun had pleaded not guilty to all five offences, which followed Jade Byrne’s Junior Cert result celebrations.

At his sentencing hearing, Garda Maria Moran read out victim impact reports prepared by the survivors of the attack and Mr Flannery’s widow, Claire Byrne.

Claire Byrne said that she’d been on antidepressants since Mr Flannery was killed.

“I relive that night every night,” she said.

She said she had met him when she was 15 and they had their first child together when she was 17.

“He was always there for me emotionally,” she said. “I depended on him so much for everything.”

She said that her family couldn’t return home to Cairn Court, Ballymun since that night as it was near Brannock’s home. The family now lived with a large number of relatives, she added.

“Our lives and my life will never be the same,” she said.

Her brother, John O’Neill, reminded the court that the knife had damaged his vocal cord and completely severed the flap of skin that prevented food going into his lungs.

“I am now a choking hazard,” he said. “I was on a puréed diet for three months . . . I still have to be careful of what I eat.”

The court had already heard that he had been stabbed in the abdomen. Mr O’Neill said that those wounds were still sore.

He’d had surgery, spent 10 days in a coma and a month in hospital with a tube in his throat.

“I was diagnosed with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] as I started shaking any time I tried to leave my house,” he said. “I still have nightmares of that night.”

He said that he had split with his girlfriend as he was no-longer able to go outside.

“I don’t trust anyone I don’t know,” he explained. “I’m not the person I used to be . . . The old me died that night.”

He also said that he felt guilty that Mr Flannery had died that night and that he had survived.

Anthony Byrne explained that he received nine stitches for his head wound. He had pointed out the scar on the side of his head during his testimony.

“I still have nightmares,” he said. “Sometimes I see David Brannock stab my Da.”

He said his family was afraid to go home because of the bad memories. He said he had lost most of his friends, some because he wouldn’t go out anymore.

“I wish it was me and not him that died that night,” he said. “Dad saved my life that night and that’s very hard to live with.”

Jade Byrne said she remembered lying in her father’s blood on the ground beside him and not wanting to leave him.

The court had already heard that she had received stitches for a wound to her back.

“I never want to see where my Da was killed again,” she said.

Mr Justice Carroll Moran yesterday said he would take time to consider documents handed in by both sides. They included a letter written by the mother of Brannock's child.

He adjourned sentencing until December 11th.