Gary Watson jailed for stabbing after noisy house party

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

Gary Watson was sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting Philip Woodcock causing him harm and three years for producing a knife. Justice Michael White passed the concurrent sentences at the Central Criminal Court, backdated to 18 December 2017. The proceedings were reported on 16 May 2019.

Watson had denied both charges. A jury convicted him in February 2019 of the offences, which occurred on 16 January 2010. He also pleaded not guilty to murdering Warren O’Connor and was acquitted. All the verdicts were unanimous.

The trial heard that a fight followed a dispute over noise at a house party in Donaghmede, Dublin. After two groups left in separate cars, the car carrying Woodcock and O’Connor was rammed by another car carrying Watson. Woodcock got out and ran towards the other car; Watson approached him with a knife and stabbed him in the shoulder. O’Connor was fatally stabbed on the same occasion at Hole in the Wall Road.

Defence counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor said Woodcock had knocked Watson unconscious during the first altercation and had accepted that he left his car intending to attack people in the other car. Justice White said Watson had suffered extreme provocation, but found that self-defence would not have been open to him because he was not in personal danger at the time. The judge said Watson had a knife and was prepared to use it, and accepted his apology and remorse.

The court directed that £1,500 offered by Watson in compensation be paid to Woodcock. Prosecuting counsel Mary Rose Gearty said Woodcock was willing to receive the money for his children’s benefit.