A MAN who killed a taxi driver by stabbing him over 40 times in front of his girlfriend and young son has been jailed for life by the Central Criminal Court.
A jury took nearly four hours to unanimously find Carlos Byrne (23) guilty of murdering Mark Smyth (31). It took a further hour to find Byrne’s partner, Lindsey Fahy (26), guilty of Mr Smyth’s manslaughter by a majority verdict of 11 to one.
Mr Smyth died in a frenzied knife attack at the Fortlawn Estate in Blanchardstown on March 18th, 2008. Byrne, a drug addict, told gardaí that he owed Mr Smyth money for cocaine and the deceased had been demanding the money on the day Byrne killed him.
Mr Justice Paul Butler imposed the mandatory life sentence on Byrne and thanked the jury for its careful consideration of the 13-day case. He will sentence Fahy on May 8th.
The victim’s brother Peter Smyth read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of his family in which he said they were devastated by the brutal death of Mark. “It has left us feeling such a sense of loss and emptiness in our lives,” he said.
The jury heard during the course of the trial that Mr Smyth drove to Byrne and Fahy’s address at Linnetsfield Square, Clonee, Co Meath, with his partner Emma Shaw and their two-year- old son in the front passenger seat.
He picked up Byrne and Fahy who asked to be driven to the Fortlawn Estate, where Fahy’s family lived.
Both got into the back of the car and were armed with knives. When Mr Smyth stopped his taxi Byrne reached around and stabbed Mr Smyth in the neck. Fahy then stabbed him in the face.
Mr Smyth got out of the car followed by Byrne who continued to attack him with the knife in front of a number of residents.
Mr Smyth was heard crying for help before he fell to the ground some distance from his taxi. He had suffered over 70 injuries, including 43 stab wounds and bled to death at the scene.
Some residents told the jury that they heard Fahy shouting encouragement to Byrne such as “that’s my fella, kill him” while others said they saw a woman trying to stop him. Fahy’s brother Alan appeared from a house and unsuccessfully tried to take the knife from Byrne.
Fahy admitted stabbing Mr Smyth once in the face while in the taxi and told gardaí that she kicked him in the legs on the ground. Other witnesses said she had stamped on Mr Smyth in high heeled boots, but forensic evidence did not support that.
The prosecution said that Fahy should be convicted of murder in that she had embarked on a joint enterprise with Byrne to kill Mr Smyth and had aided and abetted him by her presence and encouragement.
John Aylmer SC told the jury that if it found that Fahy had not foreseen that Mr Smyth would die but foresaw injury falling short of serious harm it could convict her of manslaughter. Byrne and Fahy told gardai that Mr Smyth had pulled out a gun in the taxi, but defence lawyers for both accepted that that was a lie. Byrne told gardaí in interviews that he owed Mr Smyth €24,000 or €28,000 for cocaine which he was to sell on. He said the deceased rang him on the day he died looking for the money and making threats.