17-year-old youth sentenced for murder in Rialto

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A 17-year-old youth received a nine-year sentence for murder, with two years suspended, while Wesley Kelly, aged 20, received an eight-year sentence for assault causing harm, with the final 18 months suspended. Both were convicted and sentenced at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on 24 June 2014.

The proceedings were reported on 28 June 2014. The case concerned stabbing attacks in Rialto that killed German student Thomas Heinrich and left Robert Rinker seriously injured.

Early on 1 December 2012, Thomas Heinrich and his flatmate Robert Rinker were attending a party in a Rialto flat. They were on a balcony when a confrontation developed with teenagers passing below. A subsequent confrontation in the street ended with both flatmates being stabbed. Thomas Heinrich suffered wounds to his abdomen and later died in hospital.

Thomas Heinrich’s parents returned to Germany after the proceedings. During the week of publication, they presented the first scholarship commemorating their son at Griffith College, where he had been studying.