Juraci Da Silva’s manslaughter sentence upheld on appeal

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

The Court of Appeal upheld Juraci Da Silva’s eight-year sentence for manslaughter on 30 July 2019. Mr Justice John Edwards said the court found no error in principle and dismissed his appeal.

Da Silva had admitted killing James 'Jay' Banville at New Street in Waterford in the early hours of 8 October 2016, but denied it was murder. He was found not guilty of murder and guilty of manslaughter. He was also found not guilty of assault causing harm to Mr Banville’s friend.

The Central Criminal Court heard that Mr Banville and his friend had assaulted Da Silva twice earlier that evening. The first assault was accompanied by racial comments and the second by sexual comments. After the second assault, Da Silva armed himself with a knife and went after the two men. Mr Banville died from a single stab wound to the heart.

Mr Justice Michael White sentenced Da Silva to eight years in prison in November 2017. Mr Justice Edwards said Da Silva had been sentenced on the basis that he had suffered substantial provocation involving assaults and racist and sexual taunts on two occasions before the fatal encounter.

Mr Justice Edwards said the sentencing judge had selected a 14-year headline sentence and applied a six-year discount for mitigating factors: the provocative assaults, Da Silva’s previous good character and the fact that he would serve his sentence away from his family in a country where he did not speak English.

Da Silva’s counsel, Colman Cody SC, argued that the sentence would usually be reserved for people embarking on criminality or using a knife in a sustained assault or burglary. The appeal court rejected criticism of the sentencing judge’s comments about Da Silva’s knowledge of the dangers of knives, finding it reasonable to infer that a butcher who used knives daily would appreciate their potential lethality.