A 21-year-old man who stabbed another man to death after failing to listen to the “wise counsel” of his mother to stay at home has been jailed for seven years for manslaughter.
Sentencing Blake Sweeney on Monday at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said there was no need for the defendant to arm himself with a knife, and great harm had been done, with a young man losing his life.
“His mother’s wiser counsel did not prevail at the time,” noted the judge, adding that she saw her son searching for a knife in the kitchen press after the deceased set fire to a car in the Sweeney family’s driveway and told him to stay at home. However, the judge said there was no reason to believe that Sweeney would have “taken up arms” that night but for the conduct of the deceased man.
In July, Blake Sweeney of Fertha Drive, Cahersiveen, Kerry was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Robert Elston (33) of Lisselton at Fertha Drive on May 23rd, 2018. Sweeney had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter but the Director of Public Prosecutions refused to accept the plea.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan told the trial that the cause of death was two stab wounds and in particular noted one to Mr Elston’s back that entered to a depth of 18cm (six inches) and severed the aorta.
Passing sentence today, Mr Justice Hunt said this was a “tragic case”, where the defendant had pursued the deceased with a knife and the full defence of self-defence was not available to him. The judge said he understood the jury’s verdict to mean that the force used by Sweeney was “reasonably proportionate” to the circumstances of the case.
The judge said for reasons that remain “totally unclear”, Mr Elston had left a house armed with an axe before he banged on the Sweeneys’ door and started a fire. Sweeney was asleep in the front room of his home and a family member had tried to put out the fire which constituted serious danger, said Mr Justice Hunt.
He pointed out that Sweeney’s mother saw him searching for a knife in the kitchen press. However, she told him to stay in the house but instead he went in pursuit of Mr Elston, and an altercation took place between the two men. Sweeney inflicted two stab wounds to the abdomen of the deceased.
The judge emphasised that the defendant had maintained that the deceased was in possession of an axe. “I’m satisfied from the accused that his account is correct and I’m also satisfied that the jury reached its conclusion to manslaughter on this basis,” he said.
Before delivering the sentence, Mr Justice Hunt noted Sweeney had co-operated with gardaí by giving immediate and accurate accounts of the incident.
The judge said the harm done was very great as a young man had lost his life. The loss of Mr Elston was felt in particular by the deceased’s mother and his young son, said Mr Justice Hunt, adding that Mr Elston’s father had been stabbed to death in an unrelated incident years earlier.
Aggravating factors in the case included the significant nature of harm caused, the fact Sweeney pursued Mr Elston over a “considerable distance” and entered the house armed with a knife.
The judge said Sweeney was entitled to be frightened by Mr Elston’s action of setting fire to the car at his family home but there was no need for him to arm himself with a knife.
The judge said the appropriate headline sentence was 10 years . In mitigation, he noted that there was an absence of premeditation and planning as well as the fact he had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter prior to the trial. Other mitigating factors included that Sweeney had expressed genuine remorse since the killing and offered gardaí continued co-operation.
Sweeney was sentenced to eight years and six months imprisonment with the last 18 months suspended, backdated to May 23rd, 2018 when he went into custody.