Three men who brutally attacked and robbed a 75-year-old man who later died from his injuries have been given prison sentences of 14 and 15 years for manslaughter.
Tom Niland from Sligo was put on life support following the attack in January 2022, but died from his injuries 20 months later.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said it was an unlawful killing of a savage kind of a defenceless man in his own home.
He said the robbery had been planned and Mr Niland had been targeted because was elderly and living alone.
The judge said Mr Niland "must have been terrified" adding that elderly people living alone were entitled to assume their home is a safe place.
John Irving, aged 31, from Shanwar, Foxford, Co Mayo, received a sentence of 16 years with the final year suspended.
Irving had changed his plea to guilty on the fifth day of his trial earlier this year.
Francis Harman, aged 58, of Nephin Court, Killala Road, Ballina, Co Mayo, was sentenced to 15 years with the final year suspended.
John Clarke, aged 37, of Carrowkelly, Ballina, Co Mayo, was sentenced to 15 years in prison with the final year suspended.
Both men had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The sentences will be backdated to when the men first went into custody.
The judge said he also had to take into consideration the victim impact statements he heard earlier this week which described the constant pain in his family's life and the loss to the local community which resulted from Mr Niland’s death.
He said the statements described the "very real suffering people had to endure" because Mr Niland had lived for a time after the attack and his family and friends had to witness the aftermath and devastation and were traumatised and upset by what they saw.
The three men went to Mr Niland's home between 6pm and 7pm at Doonflynn, Skreen, Co Sligo on 18 January, 2022.
CCTV showed they had earlier carried out a reconnaissance mission and identified the home of Mr Niland who lived alone.
Watch: No person should have to endure such an ordeal, says garda after Niland case
Mr Niland told gardaí he answered the door to the men who pushed their way into his house and began punching and kicking him while shouting at him and demanding money.
They stole money from his pocket and ransacked his home.
Mr Niland said they continued to punch and kick him as he lay on the ground and he eventually lost consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, Mr Niland tried to walk to a neighbour’s house but was stumbling because his shoelaces had been tied together.
Neighbours saw him on the road but did not recognise him, such was the extent of his injuries, the court was told.
Doctors at Sligo University Hospital discovered bleeding to Mr Niland's brain, a fracture to his right eye socket and multiple rib fractures. They described his injuries as similar to those which might be inflicted from a head-on crash or a fall from a ladder.
Although Mr Niland showed early signs of progress, he was put on a ventilator in intensive care eight days after the assault and did not recover.
He was pronounced dead on 30 September 2023, aged 75.
The cause of death was stated as complications of blunt force trauma to the head.
The three men were identified through CCTV and DNA.
At a sentencing hearing earlier this week, the court was told that Irving has 57 previous convictions and was previously arrested in connection with two other similar attacks on elderly men although he denied any direct involvement while admitting being in the company of those who carried out the attack.
He has convictions for burglary, theft, arson, criminal damage, endangerment and possession of knives and road traffic convictions. He also has a conviction for possessing a phone while in custody.
Clarke has 22 previous convictions including one for theft, one for drugs and the remainder for road traffic offences.
Harman has 27 previous convictions including theft, drugs, burglary, endangerment, criminal damage and a treat to kill.
Mr Justice McDermott said the most central and important person in the case was Tom Niland, who he said should not be defined by how he died but by how he lived.
He said he was a person who was warmly and fondly regarded by those who knew and loved him and this was made clear from the victim impact statements he heard earlier this week for his family.
He said the statements set out the loss inflicted on others as they described the simple things such as his kindness shown to others and his visits to family and his part in their daily lives which he is now not part of.
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