A man who killed his daughter’s boyfriend while she was expecting their first child has been handed the mandatory life sentence for his murder.
The court heard Mark Whelan was “high on a cocktail of drugs” when he stabbed him at his home at Castlecurragh Heath in Mulhuddart, Dublin.
Noel Whelan was 22 when his life was taken on March 30th 2019.
His partner, Shannon, told the court how she remembers the big smile on his face when he first saw scans of their baby daughter.
However, he never got to meet her.
On that evening, Mark Whelan was high on what the judge described as a “cocktail of drugs.” Ms Justice Tara Burns described the level of violence used as “immense.”
She said Noel suffered “a ferocious assault.” He was stabbed 18 times.
Mark Whelan handed himself in afterwards. He was covered in blood and told gardaí he shouldn’t have done that.
Ms Justice Burns said he took a life for “absolutely no reason” and had no one to blame but himself and his use of drugs.
She then handed down the mandatory life sentence for murder.
