A 45-year-old man has been sentenced to seven years in prison 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.
Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan said the appropriate sentence for the killing in the particular circumstances of this case was ten years.
But she discounted the sentence by three years to take into account mitigating factors, including Mahon's early plea of guilty to manslaughter and his expressions of remorse.
Ms Justice Heneghan said the jury was satisfied that the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mahon had intended to kill or cause injury to Mr Fitzpatrick.
She said the facts of this case were distressing.
She said the sentence available to her was between a suspended sentence and life in prison.
She referred to the fact that even a long sentence will end at some point whereas the suffering of the family of the deceased is permanent.
The judge said she was obliged under Ireland's sentencing regime to be proportionate to the crime and to the individual offender.
She said the Chief Justice had found that sentencing should not be an exercise in vengeance or a retaliation by victims of an offender.
She said she did not take into account Mahon's previous convictions for careless driving, drunken driving and a public order offence.
But she said she was taking into account Mahon's conviction in April 2013 for dangerous driving.
He was serving a four-month suspended sentence for that offence at the time of the killing.
The judge said the aggravating factors were the inherent gravity of the crime, the fact that Mahon had the knife in his possession and that he had produced it in the circumstances in which he did.
She said she also took into account the fact that the death of Mr Fitzpatrick had been caused by Mahon, that he was effectively Dean's stepfather, as well as the manner in which he had disposed of the knife.
She said the mitigating factors were Mahon's early plea of guilty to manslaughter, his early admissions to and co-operation with gardaí, his expressions of remorse and his apology through his counsel, as well as the fact that he had no history of violence and his personal and medical difficulties.
She said she had also taken into account the victim impact statements as well as material furnished on behalf of Mahon.
She also dismissed a motion for contempt of court brought by Mahon against the Irish Independent, the Sunday World and the Sun newspapers.
The motions were brought in relation to articles published after Mahon's conviction but prior to sentencing.
The judge said the contempt of court jurisdiction should not be lightly invoked.
And she said her sentence had not been affected in any way by the articles.
Mahon's wife, Audrey, who is Dean Fitzpatrick's mother, sat in the back of the courtroom and wept after her husband was led away.
Following proceedings she left with her father-in-law, Michael, who was also in court and made no comment.
