A man who killed a teenager in a bar on Arranmore Island off the coast of Donegal on October 3, 2009 has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Stephen Boyle, 41, Austen House, Cambridge Road, Kilburn Park in London, was found guilty of manslaughter on February 15 of this year.
19-year-old Paul Boyle (no relation) was killed when Stephen Boyle stabbed him in the neck with a broken glass at Early’s Bar, Leabgarrow, Arranmore.
During the trial, the jury heard that there were tensions between the two men due to money. Paul Boyle had worked for Stephen Boyle in London and believed he was owed €400. Stephen Boyle lived in London but came back and forth to a house he built on the island.
The jury also heard that Stephen Boyle was frequently mocked and teased by others on the island due to his failed marriage. He was also the subject of rumours about his sexuality after he kissed a fellow islander on the cheek for a photograph in Ibiza.
Paul Boyle, who had celebrated his 19th birthday three weeks earlier, was brought to the mainland by lifeboat and received medical assistance from paramedics on the island, but he died in Letterkenny Hospital that same day.
Today, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy sentenced Boyle to six years in prison backdating it to October 2009 for time already spent in custody.
He noted that the accused had pleaded guilty to manslaughter “which dilutes the imposition on the prosecution”.
Mr Justice McCarthy said Boyle had a number of previous convictions “of a minor nature” but said he would disregard them in relation to sentencing.
He also noted that Paul Boyle’s family went through a great deal of trauma and that his parents were particularly traumatised.
The judge took account of a psychiatric report, which said Boyle was of minimal risk of reoffending and that nine persons had given him “the highest references”.
He also noted that a defence of diminished responsibility was used during the trial but that the jury did not accept it.
During the trial, assistant State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar told the jury that Paul Boyle died from associated blood loss and trauma caused by sharp force trauma.
Dr Jabbar told the court there was trauma to the left side of the neck, which was caused by sharp force trauma, and that Paul Boyle lost 60% of his blood.
Counsel for the defendant, Mr Michael O’Higgins SC, had previously asked Mr Justice McCarthy to impose as lenient a sentence as possible but accepted it had to be custodial.
Mr O’Higgins said the judge could impose a lenient sentence and that “if it were to be challenged could be comfortably stood over”.
Mr O’Higgins said his client wanted to express his sincere sympathy to the deceased’s family.
He said evidence was heard during the trial that his client struck Paul Boyle twice – once on the head and accidentally “caught” and stabbed in the neck.
“The incident seems to have come to fruition in a number of seconds,” he added and that after the incident his client was very badly beaten up.
Mr Vincent Heneghan BL prosecuting told the court on that date the prosecution did not accept that there was minimal risk of reoffending but that it accepted the decision of the jury.
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