A man found guilty of murdering his teenage neighbour with a slash-hook never intended to inflict any serious harm, the Court of Appeal has heard.
Joseph Joyce (33) is serving a life sentence for the killing of John Paul McDonagh during a street battle in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh in April 2020.
As Joyce mounted a bid to overturn his conviction, senior judges were told he still claims to have acted in self-defence.
But a defence barrister argued that the jury should also have been directed on a potential alternative verdict of manslaughter.
Desmond Fahy KC submitted: “This was a situation where the weapon was used defensively, there was no intention to cause serious harm.”
Mr McDonagh, 18, sustained a fatal leg wound in the confrontation outside Joyce’s home at Coolcullen Meadow.
The victim and his two brothers, who lived at nearby Drumawell Gardens, were said to have become involved in a violent row with the defendant over noise from a party.
CCTV footage played at his trial showed Joyce standing in the street holding a slash-hook and a plastic bottle filled with ammonia.
He claimed the brothers were armed with a knife, bottle and garden spade, and that he responded to protect himself and his family.
“There was one (defensive) blow where one man was being attacked by three, all armed with weapons, who had cornered him at the fence of his own home,” Mr Fahy said.
Joyce subsequently expressed remorse for Mr McDonagh’s death and the loss suffered by his family.
In October last year, however, he was sentenced to a minimum of ten years in prison after being convicted of murder.
Setting out the grounds of appeal, Mr Fahy confirmed: “My instructions were, and remain, that this was self-defence.”
Counsel insisted that the circumstances merited consideration of manslaughter as a possible alternative verdict open to the jury.
“This was not a situation where he produced a gun and shot this man in the head,” he contended.
“There were no multiple blows inflicted or wounds sustained by the three men who came to attack him, it was a single blow from a defensive movement to the back of his assailant’s leg.”
Barra McGrory KC, for the prosecution, responded that the trial judge could have undermined Joyce’s self-defence case by issuing any direction on manslaughter.
He also maintained that the CCTV footage contradicted the appellant’s version of events.
“My Joyce can clearly be seen already armed with a scythe… before the McDonaghs leave their property,” the barrister said.
Judges were told that he went on to wield the lethal weapon, declared himself “the boss” and demanded that the brother’s turned down the noise.
The appeal continues.