A pair of 21-year-old twin brothers, who had never offended before they killed their mother’s partner during a domestic incident that ‘flared up out of the clear blue sky’, have been jailed for six years.
Eric and Sean Farrell, who “behave and act more like two halves of one person,” killed Nicolae Diaconu (45) by stabbing incident him eight times and striking him with a blunt object after he became abusive towards their mother, the Central Criminal Court previously heard.
Judge Tony Hunt said on Monday that the two acted under the “misconceived but genuine sense” that they were under threat from Diaconu and by their actions, they had taken his life and “blighted” their own.
He imposed a sentence of seven years and six months with the final 18 months suspended for the rest of the defendants’ lives.
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Should either brother be convicted of an indictable offence at any time, they may be required to serve the 18-month sentence, the judge said.
The brothers, from Castle Park, Tallaght in Dublin 24 previously pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Diaconu (45) at their Tallaght home on December 11th, 2023. The Director of Public Prosecutions accepted their pleas.
The court was told that the admission to manslaughter was accepted on the grounds that both men took part, although Eric told gardaí that only he stabbed the victim and that his brother did not harm him.
The judge on Monday said that CCTV from a nearby shop prior to the killing showed the twins and Diaconu were being ‘amicable’ towards one another as they purchased food, alcohol and cigarettes before returning to the family home.
The fatal incident “clearly flared up out of the clear blue sky.
Mr Justice Hunt identified the aggravating factors in the case as the level of violence and the use of knives and a hammer. The mitigating factors included their youth, their genuine remorse and lack of previous convictions.
The judge said both men had received favourable probation reports and are considered at a low risk of reoffending.
At a previous hearing, Det Gda Seamus Palmer told prosecution senior counsel Dean Kelly that the deceased had been in a relationship with Tanya Farrell, the defendants’ mother, for some months prior to his death. Over the last few days of his life, there were allegations of abuse or mistreatment in the relationship. During that time, gardaí were called to the house at Castle Park and arrested Diaconu following reports that he had been acting aggressively.
Farrell went to stay with a relative and on the Monday evening, the twins went to Castle Park to speak to Diaconu. At 8.36pm, Eric called emergency services saying that someone had been stabbed. When gardaí arrived , they noticed that Sean was in a ‘hysterical state’ and his distinctive jacket with coloured lapels was covered in blood, as were his head, hands and face.
Eric also had blood on his hands, face and clothes and was visibly upset, crying and sobbing. The deceased was lying in a pool of blood in the livingroom..
A garda who spoke to Eric at the scene said he seemed “very distressed”. He said he had stabbed the deceased because he had grabbed Sean during a dispute relating to their mother. Eric admitted to stabbing Diaconu and added: “I done it, I f**king done it. I ruined it for both of us.”
Sean told a garda at the scene that he and Eric had gone to Castle Park to “make sure everything was all right”. He said the deceased “went for me first” with a hammer and he denied ever touching Diaconu.
However, as gardaí conducted their inquiries, a neighbour told them he had been passing the Farrell home at about 8.30pm that night and saw a person wearing the same distinctive hoodie worn by Sean through the livingroom window, crouching down and making striking motions on the floor with his right hand.
The detective said gardaí then decided to arrest Sean, but nothing of evidential value emerged.
State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan found eight stab wounds on Diaconu’s chest, neck, arms and legs. She said the fatal stab wound was to the middle of the chest.She said a blunt injury to the front of the scalp could have been caused by a hammer that was found at the scene or a similar object.
Eric, in his interviews, told gardaí that he and Sean went to Castle Park because Diaconu wanted a meeting to “get things back to normal”.
He said he was making pizza when “the s**t hit the fan”.
He denied that his brother had ever attacked Diaconu.
Palmer said he didn’t ‘take at face value’ that Eric’s description of how he used the knife was actually how it was used.
