Verdict On Appeal Over Seven Year Sentence For Fatal Stabbing

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The Court of Appeal will deliver it’s judgement today in an appeal taken by a man over the severity of a seven year sentence for killing his stepson.

David Mahon of Ongar Village in Clonsilla stood trial for Dean Fitzpatrick’s murder but was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Dean Fitzpatrick died after being stabbed outside of David Mahon’s apartment on May 25th, 2013.

His trial heard the pair were arguing over a stolen water bottle.

Mr. Mahon, who is married to Dean’s mother Audrey, claimed his stepson initially pulled a knife on him.

He told Gardaí he disarmed Dean and claimed the deceased must have walked into the knife when he produced it later to illustrate a point.

During his appeal in October, Mr. Mahon’s barrister Sean Guerin accused the judge of wrongly assessing his client’s level of culpability for sentencing and criticised her for the way she assessed some of the aggravating factors.

The disposal of the knife afterwards for example was described as ‘significant’, but he doesn’t feel that was the case and said the prosecution could have easily found a matching knife for experts to examine.