From Galway Bay FM newsroom- The jail term for the manslaughter of Oughterard publican John Kenny in 2011 has been reduced on appeal at a sitting today of the Court of Appeal
The pub doorman, who left his employer to die on a toilet floor after a violent robbery, has had his nine-year jail term imposed for manslaughter reduced by one year, on appeal.
Marian Lingurar Jnr was aged 16 when 56 year old John Kenny was badly beaten, tied and left to die by a gang of men on September 25, 2011.
Marian Lingurar Jnr, who is now 27, appealed the severity of the sentence on the grounds that insufficient weight was placed on his age at the time of the offending by the trial judge.
In the judgment delivered by the President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, sitting with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, the sentence imposed by Judge Rory McCabe in May 2019 was quashed.
Noting that the appellant was physically mature beyond his years, and that this maturity had helped him secure employment as a doorman, Mr Justice Birmingham also acknowledged that Judge McCabe had been aware of the fact that the appellant was not a party to the violence inflicted on Mr Kenny.
The judge also said it was clear that the crime has had a very grave impact on the members of the Kenny family.
Reducing the appellant’s jail term by one year, Mr Justice Birmingham said that 10 years for a 16-year-old falls outside the range.
However, Mr Justice McCarthy, noted that Mr Kenny’s killing had been a crime of common design, and, in that regard, Lingurar Jnr bears that responsibility for the events of the night in question.
