A 47-year-old man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for the manslaughter of a man in a so-called one-punch assault outside a hotel four years ago.
Vincent Kelly, aged 45, died from serious head injuries after he fell backwards having been punched in the face by Paul O'Carroll outside the Royal Hotel in Bray Co Wicklow in the early hours of 9 June 2018.
O'Carroll of St Peter's Place, Bray was found guilty of the unlawful killing of Mr Kelly after a trial at the Circuit Criminal Court earlier this year.
The court heard Mr Kelly lived in Newtownmountkennedy but was staying in the Royal Hotel in Bray at the time.
He had been drinking in the bar and moved to the lobby later on. O’Carroll was also drinking at the hotel.
The two men did not know each other previously.
The court was told that Mr Kelly was upset and his behaviour was annoying some other people in the lobby. O’Carroll’s friend first moved Mr Kelly’s drink to another table, before O’Carroll brought the drink outside.
When Mr Kelly followed him to retrieve his drink, O’Carroll punched him.
Mr Kelly fell backwards and sustained catastrophic injuries to his head. He died later in hospital.
O’Carroll pleaded not guilty and claimed he had been acting in self-defence.
However, this was rejected by the jury at his trial.
Judge Orla Crowe said Mr Kelly was greatly loved and greatly missed and noted the consequences of his death for his children.
The judge said O’Carroll had described the incident as unplanned and unforeseen but she said he had moved Mr Kelly’s drink and brought matters outside.
She said if he had found Mr Kelly’s company so objectionable, he could have left the group and none of this would have happened.
She noted that O’Carroll had 21 previous convictions including a conviction in 1999 for assault and had previously served a custodial sentence for the possession of drugs.
The judge set a headline sentence of seven years but also took into account mitigating factors such as concessions made on O’Carroll’s behalf at trial, the fact that he offered assistance to Mr Kelly and that he went to gardaí the next day and has not come to adverse garda attention since.
The judge heard evidence that O’Carroll was heavily involved in his local community and has done voluntary work for a number of different organisations.
However, she said the offence warranted a custodial sentence and sentenced him to five years with the final six months suspended.
She refused an application by O’Carroll’s defence counsel, Michael O’Higgins to defer the beginning of the sentence until after Christmas.
