A Co Galway man has been jailed for eight years for the killing of a man who was described as having a "sexual relationship" with him from the age of 12.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday Alan Stephens (25), of Hymany Park, Ballinasloe, was jailed for the manslaughter of John Kennedy (49) at an amusement arcade on Main Street, Ballinasloe, on August 19th, 1997. He was also jailed for a concurrent three years for the larceny of €2,396 from the arcade.
The court heard that Mr Kennedy, of Ahascragh, Ballinasloe, died after being struck with a hammer five times in the head during a homosexual encounter with the accused "of a kind objected to by the accused".
Mr Edward Comyn SC, for the prosecution, said the deceased was the manager of Funworld. He was a type of "father figure" to Stephens, who began to have sexual relations with him one year after his own father moved away to England when he was 12.
Mr Comyn said the larceny was not the motive for the killing, and Stephens used the money to flee the country for England, from where he was extradited to Ireland in 2002.