Andrew Lacey jailed for six years for fatal stabbing

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

Andrew Lacey was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to seven years and six months for the manslaughter of Derek Reddin, with the final 18 months suspended. The proceedings were reported on 28 July 2023.

Lacey had pleaded not guilty to murdering Reddin at Loughlinstown Drive on an unknown date between 14 and 15 October 2019, inclusive. A ten-person jury cleared him of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring set a headline sentence of eight years and six months, reducing it to seven years and six months for mitigating circumstances. She suspended the final 18 months on condition that Lacey be of good behaviour for three years after his release. He entered a €100 bond to be of good behaviour on release.

The judge backdated the sentence to 15 June 2023 to account for time already spent in custody. She said Lacey held primary responsibility for Reddin’s death.

The judge accepted that Reddin attacked Lacey without warning and said there was evidence that Reddin used a baseball bat. She gave Lacey the benefit of the doubt that the knife was a work knife he had picked up by chance. She said he was entitled to defend himself and that producing the knife when attacked with a weapon was not unreasonable in itself.

However, the judge said the force used by Reddin was not deadly. She said the evidence suggested that Lacey had Reddin on the ground and stabbed him, making the use of the knife excessive and fatal. She regarded Lacey’s initial denial to gardaí that the knife belonged to him as showing that he realised he had gone beyond reasonable self-defence.