The parents of a man stabbed to death during a brawl inside a bed and breakfast branded the justice system a ‘joke’ after their son’s killer was jailed for five years.
Terence 'Terry" Connors (42) had originally been charged with the murder of Peter Conroy (25), at Palmerstown Lodge B&B, Kennelsfort Road Lower, Palmerstown, Dublin 20 on June 9th, 2015.
His plea of guilty to manslaughter and not guilty to murder was rejected by the State and last December Connors was convicted by a jury of Mr Conroy's manslaughter after a one-week trial.
At the Central Criminal Court on Monday, Connors, of Drumcairn Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin 24, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, with the last two suspended, for killing Mr Conroy.
Speaking outside court, the dead man's parents, Frank and Marion Conroy, broke down as they criticised the sentence handed down by Mr Justice Paul Butler.
Mr Conroy said: “Peter was a loving son. He was a rock to us. He was a loving father. He didn’t deserve to be killed the way he was killed. He got no justice. Seven years, with two suspended, for another person’s life. Where’s the justice in that? He (Connors) stabbed him four times and he got manslaughter.”
Wiping away tears, Mrs Conroy added: “How can you put a time on a person? Where is the justice? The justice system is a f***ing joke in this country. In any other country, he’d get more. You get more for robbing than you would for murder. His kids can see him walking around, go visit him. We will never see our son again.”
Earlier, Mr Justice Butler was forced to adjourn the hearing when friends and relatives of the dead man reacted angrily when the sentence was delivered.
Gardaí were forced to remove several people from the courtroom after one women shouted: “He (Connors) is laughing in our faces,” and one man rushed at the accused sitting in the dock.
Another woman sitting in the public gallery was heard shouting at Connors: “If he smiles once more, I’ll f***ing punch him.”
Remorse expressed
During his trial, the court was told Connors had believed his children were in danger as the fighting between guests of the B&B and non-residents intensified when he fatally stabbed his victim.
Delivering his sentence, Mr Justice Butler said that although the accused had returned to the scene of the brawl with a knife and was “seen to make a downwards motion towards the deceased” on CCTV, “the killing lacked the intention of a murder conviction”.
The judge said the accused, whom he described as being from “a travelling background”, had “expressed remorse from the bottom of his heart”.
However, he said the fact that Connors returned to the scene of the fight with a knife had been an aggravating factor in sentencing.
Connors was also sentenced to two months' jail for assaulting a woman, Elaine Blunt, during the same brawl. The judge suspended this sentence in full.
The manslaughter sentence was backdated to October 1st, 2015.
At an earlier sitting the court heard the convicted man had been at a wedding party in Sallynoggin where he drank alcohol and took a little cocaine. He came home to the B&B in Palmerstown, went to sleep and some time later awoke to hear shouting and his sons calling “daddy, daddy”.
A Garda said the reason for the fracas is unknown but two men who did not live at the B&B had sneaked in and were involved in a brawl. He said Connors appeared to believe that someone had a knife and that his children were in danger.
Connors grabbed a knife before going to where the fight was happening and as the violence intensified in the hallway of the B&B he stabbed Mr Conroy.