A MAN who went on the run for almost a decade following the manslaughter of a man in Longford in September 2001 was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison.
Nigel Kenny (30), the father of two children, with an address at Castlegardens, Newtownforbes, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Martin McKiernan (20), on September 1st, 2001, at Townspark, Longford.
Mr McKiernan died after running in front of a bus while attempting to flee from Kenny and a group of men after a row broke out at the Longford Slashers GAA Club.
Longford Circuit Court was told Kenny and Mr McKiernan had been ejected from a disco on the night in question.
The row subsequently spilled out on to the car park.
After initially managing to escape, Mr McKiernan was confronted and assaulted a short time later by Kenny and a number of other men.
In a further bid to escape, the court heard, Mr McKiernan inadvertently ran out in front of a bus and died a short time later.
Five days after the incident, the court was told Kenny voluntarily made a statement to gardaí before he was interviewed again on September 15th.
However, prosecuting senior counsel Tom O’Connell said Kenny failed to appear in court for a preliminary hearing.
Kenny then absconded to Britain.
Sgt Jim Parker said Kenny, a father of two, was eventually apprehended when his fingerprints were taken after he was convicted of a drink-driving offence in 2005.
He was then extradited back to Ireland in September 2010 on foot of a European arrest warrant.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Mr McKiernan’s father, Joseph, said he was “within a week” of handing over the family farm to his eldest child and only son.
“Christmas is so difficult to see a place at the table empty,” he said while being supported by his wife, Marion.
“Instead of buying presents we are buying flowers to put on his grave.”
Defence senior counsel Ken Fogarty said his client had been heavily intoxicated on the night in question, was “judgment impaired” and had a deep sense of remorse which he had been carrying for almost 10 years.
Wearing a black suit, Kenny apologised to the McKiernan family.
“I was young and stupid,” he said. “I know I shouldn’t have ran but I did.
“I can’t contemplate what those people [McKiernan family] have gone through. I know I have done wrong.
“All I can do is apologise,” he said.
Judge Anthony Kennedy said that while he accepted Mr Kenny was “genuinely contrite”, his drunkenness on the night was not a mitigating factor.
He described Kenny’s behaviour on the night as “unnecessary and aggressive”.
He sentenced Kenny to six years in prison, backdating the sentence to July 29th, 2010, when Kenny was taken into custody.
Judge Kennedy refused leave of appeal. He allowed the prosecution to submit an application for Kenny to serve out his sentence in the UK, indicating however that this was outside of his jurisdiction.