Two Dublin men were jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court yesterday after a jury found them guilty of the murder of a Finglas man, who was stabbed 17 times.
During the 12-day trial Patrick Harris (30), Griffith Parade, Finglas, Dublin, and Michael Norton (22), St Pappins Green, Glasnevin, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Noel Kearney (36), Ballygall Parade, Finglas, on January 28th, 2002, in Finglas.
The jury deliberated for more than 6½ hours and spent one night in a hotel before delivering the unanimous guilty verdict on both counts of murder.
Mr Justice Abbott imposed a mandatory life sentence on both Harris and Norton immediately after the verdict was delivered. "The court has no discretion whatsoever but to impose a sentence of life in prison," Mr Justice Abbott said.
Harris, who never took up bail, had been in custody since January 2002 and will have his sentence backdated. Norton had been in custody for just over a year before bail was granted in November 2004. His life imprisonment will include that year.
The court erupted into applause and shouts when the guilty verdicts were delivered. Some of Mr Kearney's family were sobbing.
The court had heard that on the day of the murder, Harris and Norton were in each other's company drinking for most of the evening. They came across Mr Kearney at a local gathering of youths in Finglas some four hours before his death.
In a statement read to the court, Harris said he and Norton went to Mr Kearney's house after 10 p.m. "because it started to rain". He'd said that Norton had told him he was going to kill Mr Kearney, but Harris didn't believe him because Norton was "always full of s***".
According to Harris's statement, he and Mr Kearney were drinking and having a chat around the table while Norton stood behind Mr Kearney.
Harris said when Norton pulled out a knife he took it away from him and broke it in half. This knife was found in the dead man's kitchen with blood smears on it. Another blood-spattered knife was located the next day at nearby church grounds, which Harris pointed out to detectives.
A trail of blood led from the victim's kitchen to the front garden of his neighbour's house, where Mr Kearney was found dead in the driveway, after gardaí received two anonymous phone calls at 10.55 p.m.