A 21-year-old man has been given a life sentence for the murder of a 16-year-old in Limerick two years ago.
John O’Loughlin of Cecil Street, Limerick, had denied the murder of Roman Vysochan at the Carraig Midhe estate, Limerick, on the night of 10 May 2008.
The victim died after being stabbed in the heart.
He had been going out with O’Loughlin’s sister Gillian, and had gone to her house that night along with a friend.
O’Loughlin had been in Limerick city, and went home by taxi when he heard the victim and his friend had called to his mother’s house.
He got a knife from the kitchen and went to the bedroom.
Gillian O’Loughlin told gardaí that she saw him stab Roman four or five times, but in the witness box she said she did not remember anything she said, because she had been smoking cannabis.
This afternoon the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict, and O’Loughlin was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney.
The victim’s mother said in a victim impact statement read to the court that their world had fallen apart when she lost her beautiful son.
The court heard he was a talented soccer player, was good at maths and had planned to go to the University of Limerick.
She said the family missed him every second of every day, and that it was very difficult to explain to her younger son Oleg what had happened to his brother.
