New Age traveller found guilty of manslaughter
The former New Age traveller who was put on trial on a charge of murdering a Portuguese national at a camp site by the sea was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter today.
The seven women and five men of the jury deliberated for a little over an hour before delivering their unanimous verdict at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
Mr Justice Paul Carney then imposed a four-and-a-half-year sentence on Stuart Spicer, 32.
Significantly, the sentence was backdated to September 2002 when Spicer went into custody.
Spicer was released from custody in January of this year. Effectively, he has served the sentence imposed today, allowing for one quarter remission.
He may have to serve just a number of days to make up the shortfall.
The sentence is on a par with the sentences imposed previously on two co-accused. Those two men received sentences of four years and four-and-a-half years on manslaughter convictions. In the original trial, Spicer was convicted of murder but this verdict was set aside by the Court of Criminal
Appeal.
The trial of Spicer that took place at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork for the past week was a re-trial. Again he denied the charge of murdering Sergio Abreu at Clashanahy, Ardmore, Co Waterford, on September 6/ September 7 2002.
This time the jury decided that he was guilty of manslaughter. The jury was not informed during the case that they were actually hearing a re-trial.
Defence senior counsel, Brendan Grehan submitted that Spicer had offered to the prosecution a plea to the charge of manslaughter but this was not acceptable to the State.
Spicer’s connection with Abreu was Miriam Rooney. She had a child with Abreu, their relationship ended and she began seeing Spicer when Abreu was in prison for assaulting and threatening to kill Ms Rooney and he was released a month before his death.
