A jury yesterday found a man not guilty of the murder but guilty of the manslaughter of a neighbour in Ballymun, Dublin, three years ago.
David Dunne (25), an unemployed father of two from Coultry Road, Ballymun, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Patrick Higgins (50), of Coultry Grove, on November 13th, 1995.
After deliberating for nearly three hours the jury returned a unanimous verdict before Ms Justice McGuinness yesterday evening.
Sentencing of Dunne was deferred until November 27th, pending the receipt of probation and welfare reports. Ms Justice McGuinness said she was not sure that the "over-stretched" Probation and Welfare Service would have reports prepared by then, but she was anxious to bring an end to the matter as soon as possible for the sake of those involved.
During a six-day trial, counsel for Dunne argued that he pushed and kicked a man he later discovered was Mr Higgins because he believed his mother was being assaulted by him.
Neighbours gave evidence of hearing "a loud thud" as Mr Higgins struck his head off a low wall in the lane-way beside his house after he was pushed forward by Dunne.
The State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, said a depressed fracture of the skull and other head injuries were the major components in Mr Higgins's death. Facial and neck injuries were a contributory factor and had hastened death.
In a signed statement to gardai, Dunne said: "I kicked Pat twice when he was on the ground. It was on the head."
In police interviews immediately after the incident, he told gardai: "Somebody pushed my Ma and I thought it was him. I ran around the corner and pushed the first person I seen."
Mr Gregory Murphy SC, for Dunne, argued that he had been acting out of provocation or in defence of his mother.
He said: "It's all very well for us to sit here for six days considering something my client had only two minutes to decide. Two minutes earlier he was bringing nappies and babies' bottles down the road."
The only conclusion the jury could come to was that something happened to provoke him or make him act in defence of his mother, Mr Murphy said.