A 45-year-old man will be sentenced next month for the unlawful killing of his partner's son in Dublin three years ago.
David Mahon was found guilty of the manslaughter of 23-year-old Dean Fitzpatrick on 26 May 2013.
Mr Fitzpatrick's mother, Audrey, who is also Mr Mahon's wife, said she had forgiven her husband but had not forgotten.
The court heard Mahon was angry at Mr Fitzpatrick because had taken a water bottle from Mahon's bike.
He made repeated attempts to get Mr Fitzpatrick to call to his apartment.
On the night of 25 May 2013, Mr Fitzpatrick visited the apartment.
Mahon was described as drunk and agitated. He told gardaí his stepson threatened him with a knife and he took it from him. He said he followed Mr Fitzpatrick out of the apartment and showed him the knife again. He said his stepson walked into the knife and his death was accidental.
A number of victim impact statements were read to the court.
In his statement, Dean Fitzpatrick's father, Christopher said he was full of joy when his son took his first breath. He said Audrey Fitzpatrick had taken his two children to Spain on a two week holiday in 2004 and had not returned.
Amy Fitzpatrick, Dean's sister went missing in Spain in 2008.
Christopher Fitzpatrick said his world came crashing down again in May 2013 when he had to identify his son's body in Beaumont Hospital and was told by doctors that they had done all they could but that the single stab wound to his son's body was so deep, he could not be saved.
He said Audrey Fitzpatrick had tried to exclude him from his son's funeral and they had had to go to the High Court to arrange to have buried in his own plot.
He said he had to be admitted to hospital because of the stress of events on his own mental health.
He said he had hope Amy would eventually be found alive but he could have no such hope for his son. He said there were no words to describe his pain, anger and despair.
Dean's former partner, Sara O'Rourke said her world fell apart when she was told he had died and he had been a big part of her life for three years.
She said they were both proud and happy when they had their beautiful son and she found it hard to cope since Dean died.
She said their son was only 18 months old when his father died and broke her heart to hear him calling for his daddy and his death had had a huge impact on their son's life.
In her statement, Audrey Mahon said her life had become a living nightmare.
She said despite her son's problems he always had a cheeky grin and a heart of gold. She said she had lost both her children and did not think she was strong enough to cope with losing her husband.
She said he did everything to try to find her daughter and had supported her but could not disagree with the jury's verdict because Mahon had produced a knife unlawfully.
She also said she had forgiven him but had not forgotten, adding that he would always be her husband, carer and best friend.
'Unusual case of involuntary manslaughter'
The court heard Mahon had two previous convictions - a public order offence in 1995, and a conviction for dangerous driving and drink driving in April 2013, for which he was serving a suspended sentence when the unlawful killing took place.
His defence counsel, Sean Guerin said Mahon had no record of violence and the killing of Dean Fitzpatrick was entirely out of character.
He said Mahon accepted the jury verdict and did not intend to appeal it.
And he said he was instructed to apologise on behalf of Mahon to all who knew Dean Fitzpatrick, especially to those who had made victim impact statements.
He said Mahon took responsibility for Dean's death at a very early stage.
Mr Guerin said this was an extremely unusual case of involuntary manslaughter. Mahon had not intended to kill Mr Fitzpatrick he said and quite possibly, Mr Fitzpatrick's death was never even contemplated by Mahon.
He said Mahon only had a knife because he had disarmed Dean.
He said there was no suggestion of provocation or that Mahon had lost control.
He said the basis on which the manslaughter charge was left with the jury was that by producing the knife in the way he had, Mahon was reckless as to whether he put Dean in fear of immediate personal violence.
He said the offence was at the bottom of the scale of gravity for manslaughter. He said that was not intended to diminish the sense of loss felt by Mr Fitzpatrick's family.
He said Mahon had no motive to do harm to Mr Fitzpatrick and had also apologised for his consumption of alcohol. He said Mahon and his wife and suffered greatly due to the loss of Amy Fitzpatrick. And he told the judge she could be confident that a lenient approach in this case was a just approach.
Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan said she would finalise her sentence on 13 June.
The court is hearing a motion for contempt of court taken by lawyers for Mahon against a number of newspapers in relation to articles printed since his conviction.
Lawyers for the DPP said they had been written to by Mahon's lawyers in relation to the contempt but decided not to pursue it as the DPP was of the view that the nature of the contempt was not severe enough to merit contempt proceedings
