Man (37) pleads guilty to unlawful killing of nephew’s friend

A man whose third trial on the same murder charge ended three months ago with a hung jury has pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing his nephew’s friend.

The manslaughter plea was accepted by the State at the Central Criminal Court and Tadhg Butler was remanded in custody until a sentence hearing on October 18th.

Butler (37), with an address at Seafield House, Tramore, Co Waterford, pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Michael O'Dwyer on January 10th, 2014.

He first went on trial in April 2015 but the jury was discharged due to a legal issue on the first day. A second jury found him guilty a few weeks later and he received the mandatory life sentence.

That decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal before a third trial earlier this year ended when the jury could not agree a verdict.

Butler, who was previously known as Thomas O’Grady, told his trial last April that he accidentally stabbed Mr O’Dwyer while taking a knife from his nephew to prevent him self-harming.

His nephew, Anthony O’Grady, told gardaí that Butler walked over and stabbed his friend with a butcher’s knife. However, when he called to give evidence, he said he could not remember anything, that he was a drug addict with psychiatric problems and he accepted that his uncle’s version of events could be true.