Man who stabbed and killed drunk intruder at family home jailed

Dean Kerrie jailed for three-and-a-half years

Dunmore East harbour in Waterford where the stabbing occurred (Paul O’Farrell)

A man who stabbed and killed an intruder who had attacked him in his home in the middle of the night has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Dean Kerrie was 17 when he stabbed 25-year-old Jack Power in the chest on 26 July 2018 after Mr Power entered his home in Co Waterford in the early hours.

Mr Power threw a rock through the front window and entered the house at around 3.30am to confront Kerrie, believing the younger man had earlier caused damage to his car.

Kerrie stabbed him once in the chest and Mr Power collapsed outside the house and died.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he had to accept the jury's verdict that Kerrie had acted in self-defence, although he said the convicted man had used excessive and disproportionate violence by using a knife on someone who was unarmed.

Taking into account that Kerrie showed genuine remorse and that he did not expect or instigate the violence on the night, the judge imposed a sentence of four years and six months with the final year suspended for two years.

The sentence is backdated to 30 June of this year to take into account time Kerrie has already spent in custody.

However, he said Kerrie was drawn into a response to an event he did not instigate and could not have expected.

Kerrie said he grabbed a kitchen knife, which he said was in a bedroom, to defend himself and his mother, although the judge said he did not accept he had been told the full truth about where the knife came from.

Mr Justice McDermott said he did accept Kerrie, who was younger and of slight build, had made decisions under a degree of pressure in a very short time frame in the context of the unexpected attack on his house by Mr Power, who was a tall, well built young man.

He said he also had to take into account that Kerrie was only 17 years old at the time and that his regret and remorse were genuine. He said this was evident from the immediate aftermath of the stabbing. Kerrie called gardaí who came to the house and found him sobbing in the kitchen.

In victim impact statements to the court last week, Mr Power's parents said their loss was immeasurable.

His mother Loretta Power said her son did not have a voice in the courtroom and his father Richard said the family had been mentally and physically left without direction.

Mr Justice McDermott said it often happened in criminal trials that the life, loves, skills and character of the victim of crime, did not appear to be the central concern. He added that the damage done to the family was horrendous beyond words.