A heroin addict accused of murdering a man whose body was found in the boot of his own car in an isolated Dublin laneway has been cleared of murder but has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Stephen Penrose (27), of no fixed abode, had denied murdering David Sharkey in Navan in May of last year.
He admitted manslaughter but the Director of Public Prosecutions rejected the plea and the murder trial lasted seven days at the Central Criminal Court.
In his own evidence to the trial, Penrose told the jury that he had only planned to rob heroin from Mr Sharkey, as he had become addicted to the drug following the death of his baby girl.
He said the plan went wrong after Mr Sharkey produced a knife and demanded his drugs back when Penrose failed to pay him.
He stabbed Mr Sharkey 13 times on the stairwell of an apartment at Parkview, Blackcastle in Navan on the evening of May 17th, 2009. The 18cm blade went through Mr Sharkey’s shoulder-blade, and also penetrated his heart, stomach and liver.
Penrose told the jury that heroin had taken over his life and he was “using it all day every day” at the time of the killing. He was involved in a “drugs relationship” with a woman and had been staying with her at the apartment in Parkview.
Penrose said it was her idea to get Mr Sharkey to come to the apartment with an ounce of heroin, and then steal the drugs once they’d been handed over. Penrose was to produce the knife to convince Mr Sharkey to let him run off.
After nearly six hours of deliberating spread over two days, the jury acquitted Penrose of murder by a majority verdict.
Mr Justice Paul Carney thanked the six men and six women and exempted them from jury duty for the rest of their lives.
Penrose is due to be sentenced for manslaughter on July 5th.