A 38-year-old man who said he shot and killed a drug dealer in his apartment in Dublin after he had threatened to kill him over a €5,000 drug debt has been jailed for eight years for manslaughter.
Dean Caffrey, from Beaucourt in Drumcondra, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of Sean McCarthy on 2 August 2022.
Caffrey told gardaí that he owed €300 for cocaine, a debt which kept doubling every week as he and his family were threatened for payment.
Passing sentence today Mr Justice Paul McDermott said Caffrey's actions in the days after the killing were not the actions of a panic-stricken individual but a person trying to cover their tracks.
He said there had been a significant attempt to cover up the crime.
He said his failure to get medical assistance for Mr McCarthy, taking his money and mobile phone and disposing of his own clothes and the weapon were all aggravating factors.
The judge said Caffrey had continued those steps until he realised Mr McCarthy's family "was on his trail" and he decided it was better to surrender to gardaí and seek their protection.
His actions before that were "self-serving and intended to avoid detection," the judge said.
Taking into account mitigating factors including his offer of a plea to manslaughter and his genuine remorse, he imposed a sentence of nine years and suspended the final year.
The judge said the fact that Caffrey had to be held in 23-hour lock up for his own protection while in prison could not influence the sentence and was a matter for the prison authorities.
He said the crime committed by Caffrey was intrinsically linked to his lifestyle choices.
Afterwards, a spokesperson for the McCarthy family said they were disappointed with the sentence and called on the DPP to appeal it on grounds of undue leniency.
Speaking outside the court, Sean's aunt Lisa McCarthy said: "Nobody deserves to die at the hands of another. The family feels strongly that justice hasn't been served.
"We are totally disappointed and disgusted with the outcome today, especially in light of the brutal and inhumane desecration of Sean's body and the calculated delay in the body being returned to the family for burial."
Ms McCarthy said the family firmly believed the sentence handed down today did not reflect the gravity of the "horrendous crime" committed.
The trial last October heard that Dean Caffrey had told gardaí that Mr McCarthy, a known drug dealer, told him he could work off the debt by holding drugs in his apartment at Beaucourt in Drumcondra, so he agreed to store cannabis, heroin and, at one stage, a gun.
He said that on 2 August 2022, Mr McCarthy came to his apartment and, while holding a gun, threatened that he would kill him if he did not pay a €5,000 drug debt.
A struggle for the gun ensued and Mr McCarthy was shot in the head.
Caffrey then wrapped Mr McCarthy's body in plastic and tied it with duct tape and bungee cord.
He took money from the dead man’s pocket to buy cocaine and later bought a suitcase in Dunnes Stores, which was too small.
He placed Mr McCarthy’s body partially inside the suitcase and into a wardrobe.
Caffrey also bought beer, gloves, bleach and wipes and the following day applied online for a storage unit.
He told gardaí that he wiped the gun and dropped it into the River Tolka in Griffith Park, where it was subsequently recovered.
Mr McCarthy’s family and friends began looking for him and Caffrey said he was asked, but refused to get into a van to explain to Mr McCarthy’s father where his son was.
Four days later, Caffrey’s father and brother took him to the gardaí after he told them his life was in danger.
Gardaí were informed about the location of Mr McCarthy’s body and the keys to his apartment were handed over.
Mr McCarthy’s body was found partially concealed in a suitcase in the wardrobe in Dean Caffrey’s apartment.
At a sentencing hearing last month the 28-year-old victim's sister said the family had lived through a nightmare while searching for him for five days.
Nicole McCarthy said the family had lived through a "nightmare" during a five-day search for her brother while his body lay wrapped in plastic in a suitcase inside a wardrobe.
Ms McCarthy said she was "baffled" and "concerned" at how Caffrey continued with his life "like everything was normal".
She said she and her family were devastated by the details that emerged during the trial, including that Caffrey had stolen money from her brother's pocket which he used to buy a suitcase "believing that would be my brother's coffin, his last resting place".
She described as "heart-wrenching and very disturbing" the details of how Caffrey wrapped his victim in plastic with a bag over his head and a cord around his neck.
