Galway Bay fm newsroom- The Kenny family’s victim impact statement has been read to Galway Circuit Court stating that they had spent the last seven years in torment, trying to piece together John’s final moments.
A 24-year-old father of two was sentenced to nine years in prison today for his role in the manslaughter of Co. Galway teacher and publican, John Kenny, over seven years ago.
24 year old Marian Lingurar Jr, a Romanian national with former addresses in Loughgeorge, Claregalway, and Blackpool, Cork, was found guilty by a jury last January of the manslaughter of Mr Kenny, at Kenny’s pub in Oughterard on September 25, 2011, and was remanded in custody for sentence today.
The trial had heard evidence that Mr Kenny had been badly beaten, tied up and left to die alone on the floor of the ladies’ toilet in his pub by a gang of men, including the accused, who had planned to rob him that night.
The accused had been a 16-year-old bouncer, working on the door of the pub the previous evening.
He had been in constant phone contact with his father and two other men who came to the pub later that night.
Mrs Kenny and her daughter found Mr Kenny’s body the following evening.
He had sustained severe injuries to his upper body, consistent with blows from a heavy object and with kicks and punches.
His hands had been tied behind his back and a jacket wound tightly around his face and head.
Post mortem results indicated he would not have died immediately from his injuries and would have had difficulty breathing due to the position in which his body had been left, face-down on the toilet floor.
Lingurar Jr was also found guilty of a second charge of burglary at Mr Kenny’s pub on the same night after it emerged a ‘wad’ of cash had been taken from Mr Kenny’s pocket and also from the till.
The accused had absconded from the jurisdiction before his initial trial was due to take place in 2013, but was arrested when he returned to Cork last May.
He denied any involvement in the assault and robbery of Mr Kenny but later said he was sorry to hear of his death.
A probation report handed into court today indicated he did not accept the jury’s guilty verdict.
Reading the Kenny family’s victim impact statement to the court, Mrs. Kathleen Kenny said in a composed and dignified manner that they had spent the last seven years in torment, trying to piece together John’s final moments.
She said John’s voice had been taken from him the night he died but their statement would give him back his voice now.
Imposing sentence, Judge Rory McCabe said the “defenceless and vulnerable” Mr Kenny had been badly beaten and left to die alone following a carefully planned robbery with violence.
He said the accused was a participant in the joint enterprise of a cruel, vicious and ultimately fatal robbery which had been carefully planned.
The judge said the charge of manslaughter carried a maximum of life in prison before placing the headline sentence in this case at ten years.
In mitigation, he took the accused’s young age and the fact imprisonment for a foreign national is known to carry additional hardship into account before applying a 10% discount.
