Man gets life for stabbing to death Limerick gas worker (22)

The family of a 22-year-old Limerick man stabbed to death last year said "justice has been served" after his killer was jailed…

The family of a 22-year-old Limerick man stabbed to death last year said "justice has been served" after his killer was jailed for life at The Central Criminal Court.

Brian Collins, (40), The Mews, O'Connell Avenue, Limerick, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of murdering Mr Seamus O'Toole, Emly Road, Hospital, Co Limerick, on September 24th, 2002.

A jury of seven women and five men heard how Mr O'Toole was viciously attacked outside his brother's flat at Catherine Place in Limerick city.

Post-mortem results revealed the gas worker died after receiving a 12cm stab wound to his throat and a second to his side, which cut through his liver.

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On the first day of the trial the deceased's brother, Mr Sean O'Toole, recalled the night he opened the door of his flat and his brother collapsed on top of him, bleeding heavily.

The deceased had been working late in the city and had decided to stay at his brother's flat because he had missed his lift home, the court heard.

Yesterday, the murder victim's younger brother, 18-year-old Mr Liam O'Toole, said the family were "overwhelmed" by the guilty verdict. "Justice has been served," he said.

After the verdict was announced, the dead man's father, Mr John O'Toole, took the witness stand, where he described how he wakes up every night thinking about his dead son.

"Ever since that night, the family has been wrecked, my two daughters cry every day," he said.

"I wake up every night and think about him. Not a day goes by when we don't think about him," he added.

During the trial, Collins, who pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, claimed he went to 7 Catherine Place to find a person he believed was responsible for an attack on his girlfriend a few days before the murder.

Yesterday, Det Sgt John Nagle said that none of the O'Toole family or anyone associated with the family had anything to do with the attack.

The court also heard yesterday that Mr Collins - a father of three boys - had been working in Dell at the time of the murder.

Det Sgt Nagle said the accused had no serious previous convictions but that the mother of his first two children had a barring order against him.

Before imposing a life sentence, Mr Justice Carney pointed out that this was the second murder trial in which a jury had returned a guilty verdict since the Central Criminal Court moved to Limerick just two weeks ago.

On July 11th last, Limerick man Johnny McNamara was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of murder.

"These cases had nothing to do with gangs or feuds. They had to do with individuals who took it upon themselves to go around tooled up with knives. In each case the throats of the unfortunate victims were slit," said Mr Justice Carney.

"The juries in both cases by rapid, unanimous and decisive verdicts, have indicated that this has to stop. This is what has come from the decent citizens of Limerick," he added.

Speaking on behalf of the O'Toole family, a cousin, Mr Dean Watson, said all the family wanted was "justice for Seamus".

"Seamus was just a young man at the pinnacle of his youth at the start of his life and this man cut him down," said Mr Watson.

"All we wanted was justice for Seamus. That's all we wanted - no vengeance or anything like that, just justice for Seamus, and that's what we got," he added.