A CO MEATH man was given a six year suspended jail sentence at the Central Criminal Court yesterday for the manslaughter of a teenager outside a disco.
Mr Justice Budd sentenced Patrick Carry (18) to six years penal servitude which "marked the abhorrence of the court and society at the taking of human life". The suspension of the sentence would I give Carry an opportunity for rehabilitation.
The judge said that Carry, of Headfort Grove, Kells, Co Meath, who has no previous convictions, had shown genuine remorse for the killing. He said that anyone who had not sat in court and observed Carry's remorse would be wrong to think the sentence had been "scandal Iou sly light".
A jury of eight men and four women on Thursday returned a unanimous verdict, finding Carry not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Tony Kenny (17), of Granard, Co Longford, at Crosskeys, Co Cavan, on March 16th, 1994.
At the outset of the seven day trial Carry pleaded not guilty to murder but admitted manslaughter. The State rejected the plea.
Sentencing Carry, Mr Justice Budd said the message must go out that the courts would not tolerate the sort of conduct which led to Mr Kenny's death. He was killed while he lay motionless on the ground. The judge said Mr Kenny was "an entirely innocent victim.
Carry told his counsel, Mr John Rogers SC "I just want to say to the Kenny family that I am very, very sorry for what happened.
The dead teenager's father, Mr James Kenny, was asked what effect the death had had on him and his family. He replied"We lost a son, a very good son. He was part of our family that has been taken away from us. It's something we can never replace." He could not feel anything for Carry but he felt sad for his father and mother.
Mrs Patricia Kenny said she had been suffering from depression since her son's death.
Mr Kenny died after a fight with Carry outside the Carrig Springs disco in Co Cavan around 2 a.m. on March 6th, 1994.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said that in his view Mr Kenny had died from a subarachnoid haemhorrage as result of an injury to an caused by one or more blows to the right side of the neck head. He said death was and he thought light footwear the likely source of the injury.
In evidence Carry said he had hit Mr Kenny in the chest after Mr Kenny and another youth had started "jeering" at him and a friend. He said Mr Kenny and the youth with him had said to Carry's friend to "bring him (defendant) off".
Mr Kenny had said "Go back to Kells, you scum bags", Carry said. "I got angry and upset and felt humiliated and I hit him in the chest." Carry said a fight broke out and he fell. On getting back up, Mr Kenny had said "Come on, is that all you got?", he said.
Carry said they traded kicks and punches, and Mr Kenny had slipped at the rear of the bus and he kicked him "three to four times to the upper part of the body". Carry said he was upset and had never been in a row before.
The incident lasted about two minutes. He did not understand anything serious had happened until he was told by gardai and bouncers that a youth had died. He did not believe it until his solicitor confirmed it, he said.
Carry said he sat in his bedroom for the week after the incident and could not come to terms with it. Then his employer had said she would collect him for work and bring him home every day, and he returned to work.
He said he made a full statement about the incident to gardai on April 7th, 1994. He said he never went out to hurt anyone. "I only got off the bus to get the lads," he said. "It was a row that went too far, it should never have happened. I'm very sorry I can't explain how sorry, I am.
Carry became distraught when pressed by Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, about whether his actions had resulted in Mr Kenny's death. He wept as he accepted he was the only other person involved in the fight.
After sentencing Carry, Mr Justice Budd made an order that a copy of last week's Sunday Wood newspaper be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. He said he wanted to know what action would be taken about an interview the newspaper carried with a key prosecution witness in the middle of the trial.