Waterford man loses appeal over sentence for ‘vicious and frenzied’ attack | WLRFM.com

A Waterford man who was jailed for stamping a man to death in what was described as a ‘vicious and frenzied’ attack has lost his appeal.

Thirty five year old Garrett Smith of St John’s Park, Waterford had argued to the Court of Appeal that his thirteen and a half year sentence was too harsh.

In 2022, Garrett Smith was convicted by a jury of the manslaughter of Edward Liam O’Sullivan in the deceased’s apartment at High Hayes Terrace, Kilkenny on February 6th 2020.

He was also found guilty of violent disorder.

The court heard that before the killing, Mr Smith and others had been drinking for around eighteen hours.

The manslaughter verdict was returned on the basis that Mr Smith was too intoxicated to have been able to form the necessary intent for murder.

At the Court of Appeal this week, Mr Justice John Edwards said the court was not persuaded to uphold any of the grounds of appeal.

He said the attack on Mr O Sullivan was characterised by sheer viciousness and brutality and by its intensity and frenzied nature.

Mr Justice Edwards agreed with the decision of Mr Justice Tony Hunt that the offence belonged among the worst cases of manslaughter

The Court of Appeal also rejected an argument the trial judge had failed to properly take into account mitigating factors.

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