A 51-year-old criminal has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a teenager in Co Meath a year and a half ago.
Earl McKevitt, of Avondale Park in Blanchardstown in Dublin, shot 19-year-old Conor O'Brien dead in August 2021 at a house in Enfield after he delivered a pizza to him.
He was arrested five days later in a hotel in Carlow after he threatened a manager there with the gun.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott described the murder as inexplicable, shocking and "unspeakable".
Mr O'Brien was working in Leixlip in the summer of 2021 and living at the back of his cousin’s house in Enfield.
The 19-year-old, who was due to start an apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Limerick the following week, ordered a pizza and asked that it be delivered around the back, so as not to disturb his cousin in the house at the front.
The pizza was delivered at 8.20pm on the evening of 26 August by McKevitt, a gunman, drug dealer and violent criminal who was working for a local restaurant, half a kilometre away.
McKevitt then took out a pistol and shot Mr O’Brien in the chest.
His body was not discovered until the following day, the same day McKevitt went to Carlow and hid the gun in the bushes at the Talbot Hotel.
The following day, McKevitt gave gardaí a voluntary statement in Trim. He then returned to Carlow, retrieved the gun, got drunk and was refused service in the hotel.
The 51-year-old father-of-three then opened his jacket, showed the manager the gun and told him: "You serve me or I’ll use this."
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Teenager murdered by 'violent' pizza delivery driver
Gardaí arrived and arrested him, and he later admitted he had shot Mr O’Brien. "Shooting people" was part of his job, he told them, but he would not elaborate.
He also said a circle on Mr O’Brien’s dressing gown looked like a target.
He admitted he had messed up on the pizza delivery and that he should have knocked on the shed at the back, but he did not read the docket.
McKevitt claimed he needed the gun for his work as a delivery driver and as protection, but there was no evidence he was under any threat.
He had never been warned by gardaí his life was in danger and had not received a Garda Information Message (GIM) about any threat.
He exhibited strange thinking and gave bizarre answers, the court was told, but he had been psychologically assessed and was found not to be mentally ill.
The O’Brien family declined to make a victim impact statement in court today.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said Conor was inexplicably and shockingly murdered having ordered a pizza. "It’s unspeakable", he said. "There was no sense in killing Conor O’Brien."
He sentenced McKevitt to the mandatory term of life in prison.
The judge also sentenced him to two-and-a-half years for possession of the knife and seven-and-a-half years for possession of the gun.
Mr Justice McDermott also commiserated with the O'Brien family on their loss.
