A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to ten years in prison for the manslaughter of a 21-year-old man in Waterford in November 2007.
Robert Devine, of Wheatfields, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Joseph Cummins just before the trial was due to get under way last December.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Cummins' father said the family's hearts were broken.
He said their son was industrious, hard working and full of life. He said he had everything to look forward to.
In a statement read to the court by Mr Devine's defence counsel, Robert Devine said he never meant to stab Joseph Cummins in the chest.
He said it was a situation that got out of control very quickly. He said there was much drink and drugs involved.
He said he was sorry for what he did - he took the life of a young man and he said nothing he could say or do could change that. He said he would always hate himself for what he had done.
The court heard that Mr Devine said he had become paranoid because of the drugs and drink he had taken.
He has 72 previous convictions, including convictions for assault and for the possession of a knife.
Mr Justice Barry White said there were far too many stabbing fatalities and that it seemed to him that such fatalities were on the increase.
He said human life in certain areas seemed to him to have become very cheap if not reduced to the level where there was no value at all attached to human life.
Mr Justice White said he was strongly of the view that deterrent sentences were necessary in the hope that they might reduce the number of fatal stabbings.
But he said fortunately for Mr Devine, sufficient of his judicial colleagues did not share his view.
He said he had to balance the gravity of the charge with Mr Devine's extensive criminal record, his plea of guilty to manslaughter, even though it was offered at the eleventh hour, and the fact that Mr Devine had rendered some assistance to the deceased man.
