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Killer of former Irish News reporter to be freed

Co Galway man Thomas Keaney was socialising in Perth when he suffered a single blow to the back of the head
Co Galway man Thomas Keaney was socialising in Perth when he suffered a single blow to the back of the head Co Galway man Thomas Keaney was socialising in Perth when he suffered a single blow to the back of the head

A Dublin man who used a ‘coward’s punch’ to kill former Irish News journalist Eugene Moloney is set to be freed from prison within days.

Gary Burch (26) has spent three years behind bars after pleading guilty to the unlawful killing of the 57-year-old in June 2012.

The victim, who grew up in north Belfast and started his journalism career in the Irish News during the 1970s, had worked for newspapers in Dublin before emigrating to Vietnam to teach.

Mr Moloney had only recently returned to Ireland and was walking home on Dublin’s Camden Street after a night out when he was struck with a single punch to the side of the head.

He died at St James’s Hospital after suffering internal bleeding to the brain.

An eyewitness told gardaí that Burch had flung his arms out after hitting Mr Moloney and was heard to say: “Boom!”

The trainee mechanic from Templeogue, who was captured on CCTV inflicting the fatal blow, is reportedly due to be released this week.

He was initially sentenced to five and a half years' imprisonment but Judge Mary Ellen Ring suspended the final two years and backdated the jail term to December 2012.

Mr Moloney’s brother Sean has said the dead man’s family is “absolutely disgusted” that his killer will be able to walk free while they continue to live with the consequences of their loss.

Sean Moloney has previously called for tougher sentences for unprovoked street attacks.

More than 20 people have died from single-punch attacks since 2004 in Northern Ireland alone.

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service last night refused to comment on Burch’s planned release, saying that there would be “obvious security concerns” surrounding prisoners’ release dates.

Meanwhile, a 24-year-old bouncer has been jailed for nine years by a Perth court for inflicting a no-warning punch to the back of the head of Co Galway native Thomas Keaney outside a kebab shop in December 2013.

Mr Keaney, who hit his head on the pavement after being struck, died two weeks later in hospital.

Abbas Yahya Al Jrood, who was off-duty when the attack took place, was found guilty of the manslaughter of 23-year-old Mr Keaney.

Justice Ralph Simmonds said the attack had been “unprovoked, unexpected, sudden and forceful, albeit one involving a single blow only”.