Sentencing adjourned for Noel Lennon and Lisa Lee over Isaac Horgan’s death

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

Sentencing was adjourned for Noel Lennon and Lisa Lee at the Central Criminal Court after a victim impact statement from Isaac Horgan’s son was read at a hearing on 17 April 2023. The proceedings were reported on 17 April 2023.

Lennon pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, and the State accepted his plea. Horgan, 52, died after being stabbed in the leg at his home in Markievicz House, Townsend Street, Dublin, on 29 March 2021.

Lee denied discarding the knife at Spring Garden Lane on 29 March 2021 while knowing or believing Lennon had caused Horgan serious harm. A jury found her guilty in December 2022. The charge had been changed during her trial after it was established that Horgan died after she disposed of the knife.

Lennon told gardaí that Horgan had attacked him with a claw hammer and that he stabbed him in the leg while defending himself. He said he did not intend to kill or cause serious injury and tried to stop the bleeding. Detective Garda Patricia Whelan said there was nothing to suggest a struggle beyond Horgan’s stab wound. She also said a claw hammer was found at the scene and there was no evidence Lennon had brought a knife to the flat.

The court heard that the wound nicked an artery and Horgan bled to death. His nine-year-old son’s statement was prepared with the help of a social worker. Mr Justice Tony Hunt directed that probation and welfare reports be prepared and adjourned the matter to 19 June for sentencing.