A man jailed for stabbing to death a father of six during a street brawl in west Belfast failed yesterday in a legal attempt to have his sentence reduced.
Francisco Notarantonio (22) was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment for the manslaughter of Gerard Devlin during a bitter feud between rival families.
The 39-year-old victim was knifed in front of his partner and children outside their home in the city’s Ballymurphy area in 2006.
Notarantonio, of Whitecliff Parade, Belfast, was also convicted of stabbing a member of Mr Devlin’s family in the chest and attempting to cause malicious wounding to another relative.
He was imprisoned for 11 years and ordered to serve another year on probation.
But his barrister, Frank O’Donoghue QC, argued in the Court of Appeal that the proper sentence should have been 9-10 years in jail.
“These events happened over a very short period of time in a highly charged atmosphere,” he told judges hearing the case.
Stressing how Notarantonio was aged just 18 at the time, Mr O’Donoghue also claimed that there was a low risk of his reoffending.
After hearing the case, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan and Lord Justice Higgins dismissed the application.
Sir Declan said: “We have considered the case carefully and come to the conclusion that this is a case which we should not allow the appeal.
“We will give written reasons for that at a later date.”