A 25-year-old “sportsman” has been jailed for six years and three months for the manslaughter of a man who died after he was assaulted during a melee outside a Kildare pub nearly three years ago.
Sentencing the man at the Central Criminal Court on Monday, Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said the prosecution had argued that Calvin Dunne, of Abbey View, Monasterevin, had taken “a running kick” at Dylan McCarthy (29) while he was on the ground.
However, having viewed the CCTV footage again, the judge said that it seemed to her to be “a one-stride kick” that made contact with the head.
A co-accused, Sean Kavanagh (27) was jailed for two years and two months having been convicted of assault causing harm and violent disorder arising from the same incident, at Dublin Road in Monasterevin, Kildare, on August 21st, 2022.
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Dunne was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury following a trial earlier this year. He was also found guilty of violent disorder.
He denied both charges.
Two weeks into the trial, Kavanagh, with an address at St Mary’s Lane, Church Avenue, Monasterevin, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm to Eamonn McCarthy, the father of the deceased. A charge of violent disorder was taken into consideration.
After a defence application, Ms Justice Biggs then directed the jury to find Kavanagh not guilty of the murder of Dylan McCarthy, a charge he had denied.
It was the State’s case that Mr McCarthy died following an incident in which he received punches and a kick to the head from Dunne while he was attempting to get up off the ground outside the Bellyard pub in Monasterevin.
Two eyewitnesses told the jury that Dylan McCarthy was kicked in the head, with one describing the noise as “a loud thud” that was “like kicking a football”, while the other said it sounded “like a car door” shutting.
Dunne contended, however, that he was acting in self-defence, that Mr McCarthy was himself “involved in violence” on the night and that he did not kick the deceased in the head.
Mr McCarthy’s cause of death was a traumatic head injury and spinal injury caused by blunt-force trauma.
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers told the jury it was not possible to determine whether a punch or kick caused the fatal injury that led to Mr McCarthy’s death.
In delivering sentence today, Ms Justice Biggs noted that Dunne had offered a plea of guilty to manslaughter on January 15th, but this was then withdrawn the next day. In due course he was found guilty of manslaughter and violent disorder, with the jury rejecting his defence of the lawful use of violence.
The judge noted the “extremely poignant and profound impact evidence” delivered by the McCarthy family at the sentencing hearing earlier this month.
At that hearing, Dylan’s mother Marita McCarthy said everyone in the family was traumatised by the killing. Ms McCarthy said that instead of picking her son’s 30th birthday present she had to pick out his headstone, adding that no amount of counselling would see her right, as the joy had been sucked from her life.
Ms Justice Biggs said that a probation report on Dunne indicated that he had a clear understanding of what he had done and was at a low risk of reoffending. She noted he was a good sportsman who was loved by his friends and family and who had no previous convictions.
On the manslaughter charge, Ms Justice Biggs set a headline sentence of nine years, which she reduced by 25 per cent to six years and nine months, with the final six months suspended for 12 months to encourage his further rehabilitation.
The violent disorder charge was taken into consideration.
In the case of Kavanagh, for the assault causing harm charge, Ms Justice Biggs said the offence belonged in the very upper end of the mid-range, with a headline sentence of 40 months.
She reduced this by 25 per cent to two years and six months, with the final four months suspended for 12 months to ensure rehabilitation. The violent disorder charge was taken into consideration.
