An Irishman was jailed for 12 years on Monday for the 2010 manslaughter of a British motorist in a road rage attack in Dublin.
Raymond Bates, a construction worker and a father of three, died in hospital four days after he was beaten about the head with a hurley stick (an Irish sports bat) in Dublin on September 26, 2010.
Karl Donohoe pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was jailed at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday.
His victim hailed originally from Durham, England and was working in Ireland as a quality control inspector on a gas pipeline at the time of the fatal attack.
The Irish Times reported that during the trial the court heard that Bates had drunk up to 10 pints of Guinness before getting into his four-wheel drive and repeatedly tailgating and flashing Donohoe, who had his 18-month-old daughter in the car.
Witnesses at the scene said they saw Donohoe, a crane worker, stop his vehicle at a junction in Irishtown. Both drivers had an altercation on the street with Bates shouting: 'Don’t be braking like a f***ing fanny, just drive your f***ing car.'
Shortly after their confrontation Bates reportedly overtook Donohoe’s vehicle and mounted a central island. At this point, the court heard, Donohoe took a hurley stick from the trunk of his car and hit Bates’s vehicle as it was blocking his path. He then hit Bates several times when he got out of the car, including striking a fatal blow to his left temple as he lay stunned and defenseless.
Bates died in hospital when his life-support machine was turned off on September 30, 2010.
18 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Springfield9 | Apr 25, 2012, 01:00 PM EDT
12 years seems pretty light. If it was his wife I guess he'd get 8 months. America is no example in these things. Yesterday, they arrested a man for filching a soft drink worth $1 - he could go for 5 years. I think it's the fluoride in the water.
IrelandNorth | Apr 25, 2012, 06:42 AM EDT
An inevitable consequence of the pressures of living and working under the economic anarchy of a free-for-all economic system. Best chill-pill - distributive justice! Fatherless because he's in prison. Was obviously worried he'd be childless due to road rage. But aggravated by inate aggressivity of GAA. Standard sentence for murder in Ireland is 7 years, with a 1/3 remission for good behaviour. (There are obviously extradordinary excusing circumstances which the court hasn't divulged). Shure faith 'n' begorragh. 'Tis the fine system o' law 'n' order what the Saxon invaders gave us! Don't ya know!
bogsidebunny | Apr 25, 2012, 02:19 AM EDT
His legal team will appeal the sentence as too harsh. Chances are the appeal judges will knock off 4-years down to 8 years. With 1/4 off for good behaviour his final jail time will be 6 years and after a couple of years they'll give him 2-weeks off to be with his family at Christmas. It's interesting the DPP (prosecutor) didn't allow a plea bargen down to manslaughter. If he's a copped to that, showed genuine remorse and blamed the incident of a "drug habit" he might have received 5 years probation.
Curitiba | Apr 25, 2012, 12:44 AM EDT
I'd love to answer your question, Bythebay, but I live in London, The justice system in Birmingam is not my concern. Never been there, you see.
Murph46 | Apr 25, 2012, 12:22 AM EDT
Looks like John McEnroe
TayandCake | Apr 24, 2012, 08:46 PM EDT
what a mess, the wee kid suffers
Curitiba | Apr 24, 2012, 05:25 PM EDT
Bythebay: A 16-year old boy was sent down for 8 years, he was convicted of manslaughter.
Bythebay | Apr 24, 2012, 05:22 PM EDT
Curitiba, also wondering what happened to driver of the car that deliberately ran over the young man standing on the footpath in Luton in London last summer during to the riots? What punishment did he get?
Bythebay | Apr 24, 2012, 05:17 PM EDT
Curitiba, you live in England so should be concerned with the justice system there. Ireland's isn't your concern love.
Bythebay | Apr 24, 2012, 05:15 PM EDT
Curitiba, what happened to the murderer of the elderly man who was a pensioner living alone in London beaten over the head with a lead pipe and killed during last summer's riots?
Curitiba | Apr 24, 2012, 05:10 PM EDT
Well, you don't live in England, so don't mention the riots, Byethebay. Nothing to do with you either, if you want to take it to that extreme. In fact, don't comment on anything that happens outside your town. Nothing to do with you either.
Bythebay | Apr 24, 2012, 04:59 PM EDT
Curitiba, there's plenty in England where you live for you to be outraged about and make sure gets corrected. Not to worry about Ireland, you don't live in it.
Curitiba | Apr 24, 2012, 04:46 PM EDT
Yes of course I am, Bythebay. What point are you trying to make, exactly?
Bythebay | Apr 24, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT
Curitiba, I hope you were as disgusted with the murders that happened during the riots there last year.
Bythebay | Apr 24, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT
Things like this happen in every country every day.
Curitiba | Apr 24, 2012, 02:53 PM EDT
This is just as disgusting and evil and act as what happened to that poor girl from NI when she was in Chicago. What's with the lenient sentencing? Why is being drunk treated like an excuse? Surely if you know you react in a foul when drunk, this should result in a heavier sentence?
hyattsville | Apr 24, 2012, 12:15 PM EDT
Just 12 years? Isn't battering someone to death murder?
Murph46 | Apr 24, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT
18 month old daughter,now fatherless because of road rage.I see it weekly in America as well.The whole human race needs a chill pill!