A 31-year-old man told gardaí the man he attacked in a road rage incident in Dublin almost two years ago "got what he deserved."
Karl Donohue will be sentenced next Monday for the manslaughter of 49-year-old Raymond Bates in Sandymount ìn September 2010.
The court heard Donohue hit Mr Bates on the head with a hurley stick following an argument.
At the time of his death, Mr Bates had been working as a pipe layer at a construction company in Dublin.
He had been watching a soccer match in a local pub on 26 September 2010 and had had around ten pints of Guinness before driving home.
The court heard that an argument between the two men began after Donohue failed to move off quickly enough from the lights and Mr Bates began tailgating him.
At first the argument was verbal. But after Mr Bates tried to cut in front of Donohue, Donohue got out of his car with a hurley stick and began hitting Mr Bates' jeep.
When Mr Bates got out of his car, Donohue hit him on the left side of his head with the hurley and he fell to the ground.
A witness said Donohue was like a man possessed and continued to hit Mr Bates on the head while he lay on the ground.
But Donohue said he had hit Mr Bates only once in the head.
He said his 18-month-old daughter was in the back of his car and he felt Mr Bates had been going to ram them off the road.
Mr Bates went to hospital the following day but fell into a coma and died on 30 September from head injuries.
When Donohue was interviewed by gardaí for the first time, before Mr Bates had died, he told gardaí he hoped the man died as he got what he deserved.
His lawyers said today that he did not understand at the time how serious Mr Bates' injuries were.
Through his lawyers Donohue apologised for the second time to the Bates family.
