Cork man weeps in court as he receives suspended sentence for Kanturk pub manslaughter

The judge disagreed with part of the victim impact statement read out by a family member of the deceased, questioning Jonathan O'Sullivan's remorse.

“I have to disagree with the view that the defendant showed no remorse. I do believe that the remorse shown by O’Sullivan was genuine,” Judge Ó Donnabháin said.

Jonathan O’Sullivan from Kanturk but now living at Birchfield Park, Goatstown, Dublin, wept in Cork Circuit Criminal Court as he was given the three-year suspended sentence.

Catherine Lehane, a daughter of the deceased, read a victim impact statement on behalf of the family.

“We have lost a husband, a dad, a granddad and a friend in the most traumatic and distressing manner. Tormented by the unanswered questions we will have to carry with us for the rest of our lives.

“Our dad was a fun-loving character and took each day as it came. He had great faith which we hope gave him comfort in his final day. He was not a violent or aggressive man.

The road to justice has been a long, painful, heartbreaking journey in which there are no winners and in our case no answers.

“It saddens us that we feel there has been no remorse shown for this tragedy. His sentence is little consolation to us as we have to visit our dad’s grave,” Ms Lehane said.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said there was no preparation by the accused in advance of this assault and it was not severe or particularly vicious but he said it was completely unprovoked and the late Mr Lehane was taken completely unawares.

“He was uptumbled, struck his head and died a short period later. It is the suddenness rather than the seriousness which caused the ultimate tumbling over and the injury.

“The jury absolutely 100% correctly rejected his assertions that he was only guilty of assault and they found him guilty of manslaughter,” the judge said.

Detective Garda Padraig Reddington reminded the judge that staff at the bar saw the defendant behaving in a hostile manner to the deceased and told him to stop and that this was before the defendant struck the single blow, which resulted in Mr Lehane’s death in hospital two weeks' later.

Defence senior counsel Mary Rose Gearty said the 29-year-old defendant works as a building services engineer in Kildare and shares a house in Dublin.

She said the defendant offered to meet with the Lehane family yesterday morning but she said, “They declined that offer, understandably.”

Ms Gearty said that with the exception of this case, the defendant was otherwise of exemplary character.

Imelda Kelly prosecution barrister said in her opening of the case at the beginning of February, the defendant and the deceased were both out socialising in that bar in Kanturk and into the early hours of the morning.

She said both of them had consumed a large amount of alcohol and she said, “Alcohol is certainly a feature of this case.”

She said there was a single punch to the face and the late Mr Lehane fell backwards, hit the ground and lost consciousness. He died 14 days later in hospital.

Liz Angland who was working in the bar that night told gardaí, “He hit the ground with an unmerciful crack.”

The accused man, Jonathan O’Sullivan told gardaí that the deceased had been “talking Ramesh” into his ear at the counter of the bar".

“I decided to go out the back. I don’t know what happened. I just drew a punch,” the accused said when interviewed later by Detective Garda Anthony Daly.

In another interview he said the deceased was “talking shite”.

Ms Gearty SC said the accused was weeping throughout the interview with gardaí and that this was only a day after the incident and a long time before Mr Lehane died in hospital.

Ms Kelly said before the jury deliberated, that, “It is an objectively dangerous act to strike a blow to the face of another person without warning.

Mr Lehane was immediately felled by that blow. It was unprovoked and without warning.”

Ms Kelly said it was clear from the evidence of state pathologist Margaret Bolster that the cause of death was complicated but Ms Kelly added, “I am not under obligation to prove the punch was the sole cause of death, I must show it was a real and substantial cause.”

Mary Rose Gearty defence senior counsel reminded the jury of how upset the accused was when he gave brief evidence where he stated that what happened had horrendous consequences for everybody.

Ms Gearty SC said that obviously the most terrible consequences were for the late Mr Lehane and his relatives.

Ms Gearty said to the jury that the issue they had to decide was whether the blow struck by O’Sullivan was objectively dangerous.

“The single most important factor is, do you have a doubt about whether it was objectively dangerous? What force was used to strike the blow?

"He left him without a mark. That must leave you at least with a reasonable doubt,” Ms Gearty SC said.

Dr Bolster agreed under cross-examination by Ms Gearty that she did not find a single mark to the face of the deceased when she examined it a fortnight after the incident in the bar.

Dr Bolster also confirmed that medical notes on the late Mr Lehane’s admission on the night made no reference to any mark on his face.