Two men who ambushed and assaulted a man on a lonely country road were each sentenced to six years in prison, the final two years suspended, after pleading guilty to his manslaughter at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
Noel Walsh (21), of Gort, Co Galway, and James Curran (22), of Tubber, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Mr Raymond Hynes (37), early on October 20th last year near Tubber, on the Galway-Clare border.
Passing sentence, Judge Carroll Moran said Mr Hynes had been ambushed and gratuitously assaulted. The judge accepted the accused had not intended to kill Mr Hynes, but had deliberately assaulted him, the consequences of which had killed him.
In a statement issued afterwards, the Hynes family expressed their disappointment at the sentences.
