A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a neighbour.The jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork took just over 1½ hours to unanimously find Lloyd Buckley (40) guilty of the murder of taxi driver father-of-two Michael Healy (62).
Buckley, Rocksprings Terrace, St Luke’s, had denied the murder of Mr Healy at a different flat at the same address between September 18th and September 22nd, 2010. He had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but this was rejected by the DPP.
Mr Healy’s brother Dermot told gardaí how he had found his brother lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom of his bedsit after he became concerned when he could not contact him.Yesterday following the verdict, Mr Healy broke down as he told in his victim impact statement how his brother’s death had devastated him, his only sibling.
“I am the only member of my family left, there was only myself and Mike in the family and life now is so sad and empty . . . His death is with me every minute and hour of the day and night.”
Martin Giblin SC, defending, read out a statement from Buckley in which he expressed his regret for killing Mr Healy, whom he described as “a good, kind man and neighbour”.
Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence but backdated it to September 23rd, 2010, when he was first taken into custody.
