A father of three has admitted that he punched a man in the stomach before the victim was struck on the head, strangled and died from smoke inhalation after someone attempted to set his home on fire.
Derek Coady had been charged with murdering Alan Hall, but the State accepted a plea of guilty to endangerment.
Ms Roisin Lacey SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) told the Central Criminal Court on Monday that Coady accepted that he assaulted Mr Hall causing him minor harm and exposing him to the risk of serious harm.
Coady did not cause Mr Hall serious harm and he also indicated that he took no part in setting fire to Mr Hall's home. He also said he was not aware of a fire being set and that he "may not have been present when the fire was set".
Ms Lacey said Coady's co-accused, Conor Curran, from the Bluebell area of Dublin, has since died.
Coady (33), with an address in the Bluebell area of Dublin, had previously been charged with the murder of Mr Hall (44), as well as arson with intent to endanger life, at Bluebell Avenue in West Dublin on May 18th, 2020.
The DPP has indicated it will drop the murder charge.
Det Gda Darragh Kenny told Ms Lacey that Mr Hall grew up in Coolock and was a qualified butcher but due to alcohol addiction was unable to sustain a job.
On the night he died, Mr Hall went home at about 9.30pm and some time later Coady and Mr Curran went into his house.
At about 11pm, Mr Hall's Samsung tablet was used to contact a "dial a drink" service run by a local taxi driver who delivered a one-litre bottle of Smirnoff and a bottle of lemon and lime mineral to Mr Hall's home about 15 minutes later.
Coady and Curran were seen coming from Mr Hall's home on CCTV to take the alcohol from the taxi driver before returning to Mr Hall's home.
Coady was next seen at 3.07am, leaving Mr Hall's home followed two minutes later by Mr Curran. They made their way to Coady's family home nearby.
Fire
The alarm was raised later that morning by a neighbour who saw smoke in Mr Hall's home.
Firefighters wearing oxygen masks found Mr Hall lying on the floor of his bathroom.
Gardaí noted that the house had been ransacked with furniture upended and blood on the walls. Smoke damage was evident throughout.
A pathologist recorded lacerations to Mr Hall's face, bruising and "extensive blunt force trauma injuries" in a pattern that was "in keeping with assault and defence type injuries".
There was evidence of brain haemorrhage caused by severe traumatic head injury sustained following blunt force trauma to the head. There was also bruising to the throat that the pathologist said was evidence of manual strangulation.
The cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning with traumatic head injury following blunt force trauma as a contributing factor.
Forensic scientists examined the scene and found that a fire in Mr Hall's bedroom was "the consequence of attempted arson of the property".
The fire did not develop due to fire retardant bedding and the absence of a draft. However, the fire could have smouldered for several hours, they said. The scientists also noted a small metal can of lighter fluid that they said was the likely accelerant used to start the fire.
Coady was arrested and detained. He told gardaí that CCTV footage of people entering and leaving Mr Hall's home did not show "as an objective" fact that he was present in the house.
After being charged with murder, his defence counsel offered a plea to the lesser charge which was accepted by the State.
Det Gda Kenny said Coady has 46 previous convictions including for assault causing harm for an incident in 2013 when he and a number of others entered a house and assaulted one of the occupants. He was given a three-year suspended sentence by a judge at the Circuit Criminal Court.
'Deepest regret'
Ms Lacey told the court that the maximum sentence for the endangerment offence is seven years.
Gda Kenny agreed with Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, for Coady, that the prosecution could prove his client was present but not that he did anything to cause serious harm or to help another cause serious harm to Mr Hall or that he started the fire.
The garda further agreed that "after the death of his co-accused, that was the end of the possibility of any other material arising in that regard."
Mr Ó Lideadha referred to a letter written by his client in which he said that he is now sober for two years and lives with the "deepest regret" for the decisions he made that night.
Coady wrote that he understands the Hall family will find it hard to forgive him but hopes that some day they will. He said he should "never have punched him in the stomach and left him in a position where he was in danger".
In submissions to the court, Mr Ó Lideadha said probation and psychiatric reports point to "many difficulties" for Coady, including that he does not fully recognise the significance of his drinking problem and he needs to work on his understanding of the impact the offence had on the victim and Mr Hall's family.
However, Mr Ó Lideadha said there are positives, including that Coady has not come to the attention of gardaí in almost three years.
Counsel asked Mr Justice Tony Hunt to consider partially suspending any prison sentence.
Mr Justice Hunt said there would have to be "some element of custody" so he remanded Coady in custody until a sentencing hearing on October 2nd.
