The parents of 25-year-old Jack Power who was stabbed to death in Co Waterford four years ago have told the Central Criminal Court their loss was "immeasurable".
Victim impact statements were read to the court on behalf of Richard and Loretta Power and their two sons during the sentence hearing of Dean Kerrie, who was convicted of the manslaughter of Mr Power in July 2018.
Kerrie from St Brigid's Square in Portarlington, Co Laois, will be sentenced next week.
At a trial earlier this year he had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Power at Dunmore East. Kerrie was 17 at the time of the offence.
Mr Power, a local fisherman, died after he was stabbed in the chest during an altercation at Kerrie's home.
In her victim impact statement, read to the court by prosecuting barrister Michael Delaney, Mr Power said that her son "does not have a voice in this courtroom, so I, as his mother will have to be that voice".
She said Jack was her first-born son, named after her father who had also died.
"Two of the biggest loves of my life are now gone," the statement read.
She said losing a child was "on a different scale" and that it was not natural for a child to die before a parent.
"There is no name for it, it is beyond words."
She said the day Jack was born was the happiest day of her life and that he and his two brothers were "my everything".
She said when Jack finished school, he went fishing and spent more time at sea than on land and worked long days at sea, often missing milestones, like his birthday and other events, as he intended to carry on in the family fishing business.
"I will never forget the day I was told he was no longer alive...it was horrendous...my belief that life meant something was torn to shreds and our family will never be the same again," the statement read.
"We are living a different life now and not the one we wanted...I so wish he was here with us."
She went on to say she was heartbroken that all his hopes and dreams had been snatched away and it tortured her to know how he died.
She said the trauma of his death and the four long years until the conclusion of two trials had taken their toll.
"We are serving a life sentence every day, but we keep going, because that is what he would want us to do. He loved life so much.
"I will always remember the happy times we shared together and that big smile and laugh. I could not have asked for a better son. I was blessed the day he was born...thank you for being my son, Jack."
In his victim impact statement, Mr Power said words could not express the immeasurable loss of our beloved son by an unnecessary act.
He said that his family had mentally and physically been left without direction and that Jack was stolen from them.
He added that he had been left "without the young blood needed to continue our fishing business" as Jack was the alternative skipper of our family boat. He described Jack as the figurehead in their lives who was now absent every day.
His brother Ben said he had also gone fishing with his father and Jack was the reason he decided to do that "because he made it enjoyable and he taught me a lot in life and in fishing, so I will be forever grateful".
He said his brother had a great way of teaching and looked out for others. Life has not been the same and his brother was irreplaceable aboard the boat.
"I just miss talking to him and spending time with him and to see what this has done to everyone at home just kills me," he added.
"Thoughts of how he left us will never leave me," he added.
His other brother said he should not be writing about Jack in the past tense, instead he should be writing about all the happy fun memories and making new memories and having a laugh together.
"We had plans to go and see a soccer match, plans for holidays but that was all taken from him, everything was taken from him that day," the statement read.
He said the life and soul had been sucked out of the house entirely because that is who he was as a person, he loved life and everyone around him."
Lawyers for Kerrie asked Mr Justice Paul McDermott to impose a suspended, structured sentence so that Kerrie could be returned to society.
They said probation reports detailed the remorse expressed by Kerrie who felt he had no alternative on the night as he felt his life was in danger and he was protecting his mother.
The court was told that Kerrie had been working and contributing to society before he was remanded in custody in July after his conviction for manslaughter. In a letter submitted to the court, his mother expressed her sympathy to the Power family. But she pleaded with the judge not to send her son to prison saying it was "no place" for him.
Kerrie also submitted a letter expressing his remorse and said he prayed the family could forgive him.
Mr Justice McDermott said he had a number of reports to consider and would sentence Kerrie next Tuesday.
During the trial earlier this year the jury was told Mr Power had left a local pub in Dunmore East at 3am and drove his car while quite intoxicated, crashing into a pole and damaging its bumper.
Friends said he was agitated about the damage to the wing mirror and believed Kerrie had deliberately caused that damage earlier.
The court heard he picked up a rock and went to Kerrie's house at Shanakiel. His friends heard the sound of breaking glass and then saw Power entering the hallway where an altercation took place and he was stabbed. He left the house and collapsed outside.
A post-mortem examination showed he died from a 13cm stab wound.
Defence lawyers said Kerrie was acting in self-defence after Mr Power had forcibly entered his home having already thrown a rock through the window.
However, the prosecution said the jury could conclude that if a person stabbed another in the chest with a large kitchen knife, they intended to kill or cause serious harm.
The jury heard a 999 call made by Kerrie at 3.44am on 26 July, in which the teenager said that Mr Power had come "in the front door at him" and tried to hit him. He said he had stabbed Mr Power in the chest with a kitchen knife but that he did not mean to.
Eyewitness Christopher Lee, however, had denied that his best friend, Mr Power, forcibly pushed in the front door of the Kerrie house that night and said these were "lies" Kerrie had to make up "to get away with it".
Mr Lee told the trial that Kerrie "deliberately killed" Mr Power.
They jury was told if they believed Kerrie used excessive force but had an honest belief that the force he used was necessary then they could find him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
After deliberating for just under six hours the jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
