A Dublin man who accidentally shot his sister dead with an illegally-held semi-automatic pistol has been jailed for two years.
Derek Boyd (28) told gardaí that by killing his 34-year-sister Sandra Boyd through an accidental discharge of the gun last March, he committed “an unpardonable sin” for which he will pay for the rest of his life.
The court heard he had acquired the firearm because he was in fear for his own and his family’s safety.
Boyd pleaded guilty last month to the manslaughter of his sister at his home in Collins Place, Finglas, Dublin on March 19th this year. He also admitted unlawful possession of a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition.
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At an earlier sentence hearing, his mother Teresa Boyd asked the judge to let her son out of prison. She said the fatal shooting shattered their family and left her son “broken beyond compare”.
“He will relive this nightmare for the rest of his life. He will struggle to live his life. I wish I could turn back time and have all my children be with me,” she said.
Judge Pauline Codd said on Friday it was a tragic, serious and unusual case. She noted Boyd would have to live with the fact that he had killed his sister for the rest of his life but she said the court must mark the gravity of taking up illegal arms, whatever the pressures.
Judge Codd noted the irony that, by taking the law into his own hands and acquiring a firearm that he did not know how to use safely, Boyd had inflicted the loss on his family which he had feared would be visited on them by others.
She read from a letter handed into court by Boyd in which he outlined how he regretted lowering himself to pick up a firearm in the first place. He said that procuring a gun had been the “biggest mistake of my life”.
The judge noted that there were exceptional circumstances in the case which allowed her to depart from the presumptive minimum sentence of five years for the firearms charges. She also took into account the close relationship between the siblings, his remorse and the forgiveness of his family.
Judge Codd imposed a five year sentence with the final three years suspended for the firearms offences and four years with the final two years suspended for the manslaughter. She ordered that both sentences run concurrently.