David Mahon Appeals Severity Of Stepson Manslaughter Sentence
A Clonsilla man found guilty of killing his stepson will have to wait to find out if an appeal against the length of his sentence has been successful.
David Mahon of Ongar Village was jailed for seven years after being found guilty of Dean Fitzpatrick’s manslaughter.
Dean Fitzpatrick died from a stab wound to the body inflicted outside David Mahon’s apartment on May 25th 2013. His trial heard they were arguing about a stolen water bottle.
Mr. Mahon, who’s married to Dean’s mother Audrey, claimed his stepson pulled a knife on him. He told Gardaí he disarmed him and claimed he must have walked into it when he produced it later to illustrate a point.
In opening the appeal today, his barrister Sean Guerin accused the judge of wrongly assessing his client’s level of culpability for sentencing. He also criticised her for the way she assessed some of the aggravating factors.
The disposal of the knife afterwards for example was described as “significant”, but he doesn’t feel that was the case and said the prosecution could have easily found a matching knife for experts to examine.
The court has reserved its judgement to a later date.