Paul O’Carroll sentencing adjourned after unlawful killing verdict

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

Paul O’Carroll was found guilty of the unlawful killing of Vincent Kelly following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court earlier in 2022. At a sentencing hearing on 26 July 2022, Judge Orla Crowe adjourned the case to 13 October for finalisation.

Kelly, 45, died after O’Carroll punched him once outside the Royal Hotel in Bray, Co Wicklow, in the early hours of 9 June 2018. He fell backwards and suffered catastrophic head injuries. O’Carroll told gardaí that he felt under threat and struck pre-emptively in self-defence because Kelly was acting irrationally.

Defence counsel Michael O’Higgins SC apologised on O’Carroll’s behalf and asked the judge to consider a non-custodial sentence. He said O’Carroll’s immediate attempts to help Kelly indicated that he had not acted out of rage.