Oliver Kierans was sentenced to nine years in prison for the gross-negligence manslaughter of his wife, Patricia Kierans, and to separate terms of eight and 12 years for firearms offences arising later the same day. The Central Criminal Court delivered its sentencing judgment on 20 April 2015.
A jury had found Kierans not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. The sentencing judge said the verdict was properly understood as manslaughter through gross negligence. The jury also convicted him of possessing a sawn-off shotgun in suspicious circumstances and possessing it with intent to endanger life.
The court heard that Patricia Kierans, 54, had moved out of the family home in Bailieborough and was living with her sister in Cavan town. On 5 September 2013, the shotgun discharged in the direction of Patricia at the family home, fatally striking her. At trial, Kierans said he had picked up the gun intending to kill himself. The judge described the death as resulting from gross negligence, citing the unlawfully shortened shotgun, its unsecured position, and its handling while Kierans was intoxicated in a confined space with his wife present.
Later that day, Kierans went to the Square Bar in Bailieborough with the shotgun concealed in his jacket and additional cartridges. The court said CCTV showed him handling the gun and pointing it towards Garda Tommy Fay during an effort to speak with him. Fay and others retreated. A critical incident was declared, and Kierans left the premises in the early hours after monitored calls. He was later convicted of both firearms offences.
The judge placed the manslaughter in the upper range for gross-negligence manslaughter and identified a 12-year sentence as appropriate before mitigation. The court considered Kierans’s lack of previous convictions, family circumstances and regret, but said there had been no guilty plea and no mitigation for his alcohol consumption. The sentence imposed was nine years.
For suspicious possession of the shotgun, the court set an 11-year sentence before mitigation and imposed eight years after considering mitigating factors. For possession with intent to endanger life, it identified 17 years as appropriate before mitigation and imposed 12 years. The judgment states those terms for the three offences; it does not specify in the supplied text whether they are concurrent or consecutive.