A man who beat his friend around the head and left him to die in a pool of blood was jailed for six years today.
John O'Driscoll, 31, of Dan Corkery Place, Macroom, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 42-year old Don Geasley at his home in Lower Masseytown, Macroom on the night of 14 September, or morning of 15 September 2011.
A 999 call was made by Mr Geasley at 2.25am on 15 September.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: "It appears that he was looking for help but he was unable to make it clear, or it was not understood."
Judge Ó Donnabháin noted that the deceased and the defendant both had drinking problems but were of entirely different characters; the late Mr Geasley being a happy-go-lucky man who was friendly and got on with his life.
O'Driscoll, on the other hand, was violent with drink, and those around him needed to watch what they said.
The deceased was never in any kind of trouble in his life. The defendant had three previous assault convictions, including one for causing harm.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said O'Driscoll's expression of remorse was self-pitying, and that he had no insight into the damage he had done to the Geasley family.
The judge said the defendant gave Mr Geasley an appalling death, and that having beaten him he abandoned him.
The next morning the landlord called to fix a washing machine and found Mr Geasley dead in the yard at the back of the property, lying face down in a pool of blood.
Pathologist Margaret Bolster recorded three main factors in his death: a high level of alcohol in his blood, blunt force trauma to his head and neck, and the position he was left in on the patio which resulted in his breathing being compromised.
O'Driscoll went to England but returned and gave himself up to gardaí when one of his fingerprints was found at the scene of the crime in the deceased's blood.
He did not answer questions, but when he was being brought from one station to another gardaí noted that O'Driscoll said there was a bed in heaven for his friend.
