Date Published: 19-Dec-2012

A Romanian man has been sentenced to five years in prison for withholding information during a Garda investigation into the killing of Oughterard publican and teacher, John Kenny, in his pub last year.

38 year old Florin Fitzpatrick, a Romanian National had denied withholding information between September 25 and 28 last year, which might have been of assistance in the apprehension of people involved in Mr Kenny’s death, which occurred on September 25, 2011 at his pub on Main Street, Oughterard.

A jury took just under three hours to return a unanimous guilty verdict following a three-week trial at Galway Circuit Criminal Court last month.

During the trial last month, evidence was heard that Fitzpatrick, who had changed his name by deed poll to that of his Irish, now ex-wife’s name, had withheld information from the Garda investigation into Mr Kenny’s death by making several false statements in the days immediately after Mr Kenny’s badly beaten body was discovered.

At the sentencing hearing today, Superintendent Noel Kelly who headed up the investigation gave evidence that Mr Kenny had been a well-known and popular school teacher who ran a public house in Oughterard.

He said an investigation had been launched after a post mortem examination on Mr Kenny’s bound and badly beaten body had been carried out. He said there appeared to be a robbery in the pub that night as money was gone from the till. Supt. Kelly said on the evening Mr Kenny’s body was discovered by his wife and daughter, the accused had presented himself at Galway Garda Station.

Supt. Kelly said misleading information given by Fitzpatrick to Gardai in the ensuing three days served to lead them in the wrong direction in their investigations.

Mr Blaise O’Carroll SC defending, said his client had been abandoned by his parents when he was two and had been reared in an orphanage sponsored by Daniel O’Donnell’s charitable organisation in Romania.

Imposing sentence Judge Griffin said the circumstances surrounding this offence were at the upper end of the scale of gravity and there had been a grave breach of trust.

The judge said Fitzpatrick had been callous and cynical in the manner in which he dealt with the vital information he had about the death of John Kenny and he had led the Gardai on a trail of lies and deception.

He backdated the sentence to September 28 last year, when the accused went into custody.