A teenager who stabbed his friend to death in Dublin last year has been jailed for life.
Graham McEvoy was found guilty of the murder of 23-year-old Paul Curran at a flat complex in Crumlin on 16 July 2016.
The 19-year-old stabbed his friend at least six times because he blamed him for an earlier attack on him.
The court heard that McEvoy left school at 14 and was in trouble since childhood.
He has 22 previous convictions for drugs, attempted robbery, and motoring offences.
He was also known as a bully and a low-level drug dealer, and Mr Curran was afraid of him.
On 16 July last year he was looking for Mr Curran, as he blamed him for almost getting "a stripe", meaning a slash across the face.
When he found Mr Curran, McEvoy stabbed him six times.
McEvoy claimed he went to sell Mr Curran cocaine but when he asked for the money, Mr Curran pulled a knife.
McEvoy says he took the knife from Mr Curran and used it to attack him.
He claimed he was acting in self defence, but Mr Curran's injuries showed defensive wounds and that he was trying to get away.
In a victim-impact statement read in court today, Mr Curran's mother described her son as soft and gentle, and she did not believe he had a knife.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed the mandatory term of life imprisonment on McEvoy.
His defence counsel, Barry White, said that comments he made to his family after he was convicted, "don't worry - it's only a few extra years" were not bravado, but said to dispel the distress of his own family at the life sentence.
