A 20-YEAR-OLD south Dublin man who killed his friend with a single stab wound has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by the Central Criminal Court.
Mark Green, Tritonville Road, Sandymount, was convicted of the manslaughter of Alan Young, then aged 19, near Bremen Road, Irishtown, on March 11th, 2007.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said he doubted that any sentence he could impose would satisfy the relatives, friends and supporters of Mr Young.
Speaking outside Cloverhill Court, members of Mr Young’s family thanked their friends and local community for their support. Mr Young’s brother Patrick said no sentence would have been enough.
Mr Young died of a single stab wound during a row with Green. The two men had been friends for three years before the fatal incident. On the weekend in question tensions had arisen between the men. Mr Young had slapped Green in the face, leading Green to arm himself with a knife.
The court heard that during a further row Green was waving the knife when Mr Young lunged at him, causing the knife to enter the side of Mr Young’s chest. Mr Justice Carney said the Director of Public Prosecutions had agreed the offence was one of involuntary manslaughter, which lacks the element of intention. The DPP also agreed that the offence attracted the mid-range of penalties.
Mr Justice Carney took Green’s good employment history as an apprentice plumber, lack of previous convictions, genuine remorse and the offer of a plea of guilty to manslaughter into account.
Green had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but this was rejected by the DPP. He was tried for murder in April of this year but acquitted of that charge by a jury and convicted of Mr Young’s manslaughter.
The court earlier heard from Det Garda Maeve O’Sullivan that a number of young people had been drinking in the Irishtown House pub and Mr Young had slapped Green in the face because he believed Green had spread rumours about him.
Green left the pub and went to a nearby area with a friend to drive a moped. The bike was crashed and Mr Young and a number of others arrived and a further altercation took place between Mr Young and Green. Green then went to a friend’s house where he found a sharp knife and returned to where his bike had been left. He found the bike vandalised and remarked that Mr Young’s life would not be worth living.
Mr Young, who had left the area, was called back by friends who goaded Green into repeating the threat. A further fight between the two men occurred and Mr Young was fatally wounded.
Det Garda O’Sullivan agreed with Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that Green had not reacted physically to the earlier attacks on him and had told gardaí he was simply waving the knife when Mr Young lunged at him and the blade entered the side of his chest.
Green fled the scene and was later found bloodstained by gardaí. He said he had tried and failed to wave down a Garda car and was heading to the river Liffey to throw himself in.
Green returned to the house from which he had taken the knife, washed it and put it in a bin. He then headed towards the Docklands area and was stopped by gardaí. Det Garda O’Sullivan said Green was distressed and suffering from injuries such as cuts and bruises to his face.
Det Garda O’Sullivan said Green co-operated fully with gardaí and immediately admitted the stabbing.
Mr Grehan earlier told Mr Justice Carney that a medical report on Green dated 2002 diagnosed him as suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder and Asperger’s syndrome.