LIFE FOR KNIFING MAN OVER DRUGS Pair jailed after cousin’s horror murder

TWO twisted killers have been jailed for life after murdering a man “over a few tablets” before dumping his body on a roadside. Father-of-one Andrew Guerrine had been stabbed 20 stab times, including through his skull and spine.

His sister said he had “to his detriment” trusted his cousin and his friend, who laughed and joked throughout their five-week trial.

Her victim impact statement was read to the Central Criminal Court at their sentence hearing yesterday. Dad-of-two Stephen Tynan, 41, and 37-year-old Raymond Fitzgerald, both from Tallaght, South Dublin, had denied murdering Tynan’s cousin at an unknown place between May 22 and May 23, 2015. The trial heard Mr Guerrine’s body was found in the early hours of May 23 in Rathcoole. The victim, from New Street in the city, had gone to Tallaght to sell tablets. The defendants were connected to the murder through a car, CCTV footage and mobile phone records. The evidence was circumstantial but a jury found them guilty last month. A barrister yesterday read out a victim impact statement by Edel Guerrine.

She said she hoped the defendants would have pleaded guilty, adding: “They have caused so much destruction and pain to this family, it is hard to put into words.” Ms Guerrine told the judge there was another side to her brother not outlined in court.

She said: “The person he really was at home away from the life of drugs was that of a loving father, who worshiped the ground his daughter worked on.”

Ms Guerrine told the court her family had tried to steer Andrew away from crime, adding: “He was not cut out for the life he lived. He was not in any way violent, malicious or could under any circumstances commit the crime these two defendants did.”

She said the family had been stuck in a nightmare for the past three years after reading gruesome details of the injuries Andrew received before he was found at Steelstown Lane.”

Ms Guerrine spoke of how Tynan, from Deerpark Lodge, had arrived at their aunt’s funeral after attacking Andrew.

She said he had walked up to her father, hugged him and told him he was sorry for his loss.

Ms Guerrine added the family felt it might not be so painful if the defendants were not known to them.

She said. “We will never recover from this. It has literally destroyed us.”

Ms Guerrine hit out at the lack of respect shown by Tynan and Fitzgerald, from Knockmore Grove, during the trial.

She said: “They laughed. They joked. They just don’t care.”

Mr Justice Michael White expressed his condolences to the Guerrines, and described the victim impact statement as “very noble”.

He said it was “something of absolute shock and horror for the family” after Andrew’s cousin killed him.

They have caused so much pain that it is hard to put into words EDEL GUERRINE

COURT IN DUBLIN YESTERDAY