IN THE Central Criminal Court yesterday Mr Justice Paul Carney remarked on the increasing numbers of cases coming before him involving people who had never been in trouble before who appeared to lose control of their minds from binge drinking and taking drugs.
He was sentencing a 21-year-old to six years in jail for the manslaughter of a neighbour in Co Limerick after a night out drinking a cocktail of beer and vodka.
Joseph "Jody" Buston, of Towerfield, Croom, Co Limerick, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Liam O'Donovan (59) at St Senan's Terrace in the village in the early hours of November 4th, 2006.
Mr O'Donovan was stabbed once in the heart by Buston, who, after a night out drinking, broke into the single man's home and when confronted in the kitchen grabbed a knife from the bench, lashing out at his neighbour.
In sentencing, Mr Justice Carney said Buston had been on the threshold of having a fruitful life and cases like this were coming before the courts more often.
"It is happening more and more frequently that young men of impeccable background with no previous convictions leave home on an evening without any element of evil intent in their minds.
"They take drink usually with cannabis or some other drug but not necessarily so and as a result of that lose control of their minds."
He said it was a "lottery" whether they ended up before the Central Criminal Court in respect of a homicide charge or another court in this jurisdiction.
The chief justice had made it clear, however, that drink or drugs did not absolve a person of their responsibility to society.
He gave Buston credit for his previous good character, his offer of a plea to manslaughter and his declining bail.
In sentencing Buston to six years in prison he said he would receive credit for time already served in custody.
The court had heard how Buston fled the scene and Mr O'Donovan was found dead on the footpath outside his house at 7.30am, a stab wound through his heart.
Mr O'Donovan's brother, Vincent, told the court that the nightmare of his brother's death will never leave the family.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Vincent O'Donovan said his brother had devoted his life to working in the Croom community.
"This intruder cruelly took our brother from us, stabbing him in the heart. Liam was found dead in his underwear on the footpath near his home on one of the coldest nights of the year."
"We will never get over Liam being left to die alone in such horrific circumstances. Liam was always there for us but we were denied the chance to be there for him in his last dying moments.
"This was our family home where we all grew up with such happy memories and where we always felt safe," he told Mr Justice Carney and the court.
The court heard Mr O'Donovan had lived in the family home caring for his mother, who had died a year earlier.
He had retrained as an accountant but was best known for his work at Croom football club, where he secured funding from the National Lottery and had drawn up guidelines for coaching youth teams that had been adopted nationwide.
Buston had no previous convictions and had gone into custody upon his arrest in November 2006, but had been released on bail late last year.
Brendan Nix SC said his client was extremely remorseful and had been bailed to his grandmother's house, out of Croom, to spare the O'Donovan family further pain.