David O’Loughlin sentenced for manslaughter of Liam Manley

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

David O’Loughlin was sentenced to 14 years in prison, with the final two years suspended, for the manslaughter of Liam Manley. Mr Justice Michael White imposed the sentence at the Central Criminal Court on 20 July 2021 and backdated it to 23 May 2013, when O’Loughlin first went into custody.

O’Loughlin had pleaded guilty to manslaughter before his first trial in 2016. The proceedings were reported on 20 July 2021.

The suspension was conditional on O’Loughlin being of good behaviour, remaining under probation supervision for two years and attending any courses or therapeutic services directed by the probation service during that period. The judge had set a headline sentence of 18 years and reduced it to 14 years after considering mitigating factors.

Manley died on 12 May 2013 after being pushed down a rubbish chute at O’Loughlin’s apartment in Cork. The judge said O’Loughlin had punched Manley, who offered no aggression, then ejected him from the apartment, dragged him and forced him into the chute. Manley became caught where it turned and died from asphyxiation.

O’Loughlin was twice convicted of murder. The Court of Appeal overturned the first conviction after hearing that the jury had visited the scene and possibly conducted its own experiment. Following a retrial, he was convicted again in January 2019. In March 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed that conviction and substituted a manslaughter verdict, finding no evidence that he intended to kill or cause serious harm.