A man who beat a Co Tipperary man to death in a frenzied attack with a piece of timber was jailed for five years in the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Thomas O'Brien (26), unemployed, from Dublin with an address at St Joseph's Park, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, admitted the manslaughter of Mr Christopher Curtin (44), a bachelor, of Casement Park, Nenagh, at the town's Castle Field in February 1997.
O'Brien told gardai he had lost control when he awoke in a field to find a man standing beside him naked from the waist down. He hit him about 10 times with a timber bar and once on the back of the head with a rock. He then ran to gardai to get assistance.
O'Brien took the witness stand before sentence to apologise for his actions. Weeping, he said:
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."
He agreed with his counsel, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, that he had been abusing drugs and alcohol at the time of the killing. "I won't touch drugs and drink again. I'm sick of them".
Supt Seamus Fitzgerald said O'Brien ran into Nenagh Garda station to say "a man was in trouble". Mr Curtin was dead when gardai arrived in the field. It was obvious O'Brien was involved as there was blood on his hands and he had a knee injury.
Mr Justice Carney said that, whatever the circumstances of the incident, the defendant was not entitled to equip himself with a rock or use the piece of timber in what was a frenzied attack.
In the defendant's favour he took into account that he sought help for the victim, pleaded guilty, co-operated and demonstrated manifest remorse in court.