A 35-year-old Dublin man has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of a former All-Ireland boxing champion turned drug dealer and addict.
The Central Criminal Court jury of five men and seven women took just over seven hours to reach its majority verdict of 11 to 1.
Anthony Burke, of Clancarty Road, Donnycarney, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Joseph Sutcliffe (32) in Fatima Mansions, Rialto, in the inner city.
The trial, which lasted seven days, heard that the father of three died in October 2002 as a result of blood loss from a single stab wound to the abdomen.
Addressing the jury, Mr Justice Carney had said he had been profoundly disturbed by the case, and that "my normal defence mechanisms have not worked".
He spoke of the picture painted of Fatima Mansions as "a place coming to life at midnight, with hundreds of people" buying drugs. He was disturbed by the drug-related deaths of many potential witnesses in the time it had taken the case to come to court.
He mentioned the female witnesses, who worked as prostitutes on Baggot Steet and Parkgate Street to feed their heroin and cocaine addictions at Fatima. He referred to the men, who slept by day and came alive at night to use hard drugs and drink vodka and beer.
He remanded Burke on continuing bail for sentence on March 14th.
In her closing speech, Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC, for the State, had said: "If there was a threat, it was time to leave, get a taxi and go home while the threat was otherwise engaged".
Instead, she said, Burke "voluntarily went over to the fight with the knife. What does that say about his intention?"
Mr Fergal Kavanagh SC, defending, told the jury that much of the evidence came from "junkies or others who are damaged".
Mr Justice Carney thanked the jurors and excused them from jury service for the rest of their lives.
Throughout the trial, the accused sat with his head bowed, a position mirrored in videotapes of his interviews with gardaí.
Burke's statements and interview memos were read to the jury, who were also shown him shaking, crying and apologising in the footage.
In his official statement to detectives a week after Mr Sutcliffe's death, the suspect said he had visited Fatima Mansions with friends, May and Anthony Cahill, on Saturday night, October 12th.
"I barely get out because I look after my father at home," he said, adding that he was very drunk, having spent the evening in the pub.
While at the council housing complex, Mr Burke went into one of the flats to break up a fight involving Mr Cahill.
The accused hit Mr Cahill's opponent, now known to be Joe Sutcliffe, "two boxes on the chin". Before Burke left, he said, this man threatened him: "You're going to get it. You're getting it off me."
He also noticed a man with a knife. This man, identified later as Seán Buckley, was pushing Mr Sutcliffe up on to a sofa.
After this brawl, the suspect said he and May's sister, Ellen Cahill, were standing outside her flat, when Mr Buckley approached him with a warning: "You're going to get it."
Mr Buckley said he had received a text message saying as much, and he handed Ms Cahill a knife. Burke admitted taking this weapon from Ellen "for his own protection".
A minute later, the suspect said, he went to break up another fight, this time outside, between Mr Cahill and a man in a "hoodie".
"I didn't know who it was until I pulled them apart. I just turned around and stuck him with the knife I had in my hand," he said of Mr Sutcliffe.
"I done him because I thought he was going to do me. I didn't mean to stick him bad. I just meant to nick him, so he'd go home and leave me alone," he added.