Dean Kerrie has been jailed for three and a half years for the manslaughter of local fisherman, Jack Power in July of 2018.
Kerrie was 17 when he stabbed 25-year-old Jack Power of Shanakiel, Dunmore East after Mr. Power had entered his home during an altercation.
Mr. Power collapsed outside Kerrie's home and died as a result of the stab wound.
Power threw a rock through the front window and went into the house at around 3.30am to confront Kerrie, believing that he had earlier caused damage to his car.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he had to accept the jury's verdict that Kerrie had acted in self defence, although he said that the then 17-year-old used 'excessive and disproportionate violence' by using a knife on someone who was unarmed.
The judge outlined that Kerrie was drawn into a response to an event he did not instigate and could not have expected, while also outlining how the Oireachtas have recently legislated to ensure that those attacked in their own homes are entitled to use force as a means of defending themselves.
The judge told the court that Mr. Power was behaving in a very violent and threatening way. Mr. Power assaulted Kerrie and the court was told he had also assaulted Kerrie's mother.
Kerrie said he grabbed a kitchen knife which he said was in a bedroom to defend himself and his mother, although Justice McDermott said he did not accept he had been told the full truth about where the knife came from.
The judge did accept Kerrie, had made a decision under a degree of pressure in a very short time frame in the context of an unexpected attack in the confines of his own home.
It was also factored into the sentencing that Kerrie was only 17-years-old at the time and that his regret and remorse were 'genuine.'
The judge said this was evident from the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, when Dean Kerrie called the guards and was discovered crying in his kitchen.
It was outlined how Justice McDermott received a number of reports in relation to Kerrie, including a probation report which assessed him as being at 'moderate risk of violent offending in the future if the risk factors for this were not addressed in a meaningful way.'
He said according to the report, Kerrie was still not capable of identifying what alternative course of action he could have taken, as opposed to stabbing Mr. Power.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the damage that has been dealt to the Power family is 'horrendous beyond words'.
The judge sentenced Kerrie to four-and-a-half years in jail, but suspended the last 12 months for a two-year period, on a number of conditions, which include a commitment on the part of Kerrie to engage with a range of varying services.
