Liam Power jailed for murdering Carlow man

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

Liam Power was sentenced to life in prison for murder at the Central Criminal Court. Justice Isobel Kennedy imposed the mandatory life sentence and backdated it to 18 September 2014. The proceedings were reported on 16 November 2016.

Gints Intembergs was found dead on his kitchen floor in Graigowen, Tullow, Co Carlow, on the morning of 16 September 2014. The murder charge concerned that day or the previous day. Power had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The jury convicted him of murder by a majority of 10 to two.

Power told gardaí that he had punched Intembergs and stamped on him numerous times. He also said he had used a lighter to try to burn him. Power told his landlady that Intembergs had beaten him at arm wrestling and slapped him across the face. Defence barrister Michael Delaney SC sought a manslaughter verdict by reason of provocation, citing evidence of low IQ and maladaptive traits which he said made Power easily provoked.

An autopsy found that Intembergs died from blunt force trauma to his head and neck. Professor Marie Cassidy could not identify which blow caused death and explained that stamping would not generally cause movement of the brain.

Power had also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Aigar Sildars on the same occasion. The report said he was cleared of that charge the previous day. Delaney said Sildars’s minor injuries undermined Power’s confession to that assault, while Kennedy directed the jury to have due regard to the absence of corroboration.