A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to six years in prison for killing another man in an unprovoked one-punch attack near his home in Whitehall in Dublin two and a half years ago.
Christopher O'Neill from Larkhill Road in Dublin pleaded guilty at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the manslaughter of 33-year-old Martin Lynn on 30 July 2023.
Judge Martin Nolan described it as a "pretty awful case" and said it was hard to understand why O’Neill did what he did.
Mr Lynn got out of a taxi after he had been to see the film Oppenheimer with his friend on 30 July 2023 and was standing on the footpath outside his home talking to her.
A motorcyclist went by but came back, got off the motorbike still wearing his helmet and for no apparent reason and without any provocation, punched Martin Lynn in the face.
Mr Lynn, who had his hands in his pockets, fell to the ground on Larkhill Road, sustained fatal head injuries and died in hospital two days later.
It took some months and a number of appeals before Christopher O’Neill was identified.
He was arrested in December 2023 but made no admissions and entered his plea of guilty to manslaughter at a late stage. He has 24 previous convictions.
Martin Lynn had just started a new job in the Santry Sports Clinic when he was killed and his sister Sharon, in a victim impact statement, described him as a mild mannered and sensitive person who never caused any trouble.
The family, she said, have been living a nightmare
His mother Sadie Lynn said the family will never be the same again, and to think it happened outside their front door makes it worse.
Judge Nolan said it was obviously a very serious crime but it seemed that Christopher O’Neill did not intend to kill Martin Lynn and he would try to impose a just and proportionate sentence.
He said O’Neill had expressed remorse and the judge described his actions as reckless before sentencing him to six years in prison.
The 31-year-old smiled and winked at someone when the sentence was imposed and displayed hostility to a person in the public gallery who told him to "wipe that stupid smile off your face" before he was escorted by prison officers from the court.
Afterwards the Lynn family said they were extremely disappointed with the leniency of the sentence.
Mr Lynn’s sister Sharon Lynn said O’Neill had never come forward, had only pleaded guilty at the last minute and had never expressed remorse to them.
She also said he had been before Judge Nolan for previous offences in 2012 and had been given a lenient sentence then but had gone on to commit further crimes including taking her brother's life.
The family say they will ask the DPP to appeal the leniency of the sentence and have called for a mandatory minimum sentence to be introduced for one-punch attacks.
