Summary of judgment - Court Sentences for manslaughter of Padraig Fox
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Neutral Citation | Summary of judgment - Court Sentences for manslaughter of Padraig Fox |
| Court | Court of Judicature (NI) |
| Date | 28 January 2020 |
Judicial Communications Office
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28 January 2020
COURT SENTENCES FOR MANSLAUGHTER OF
PADRAIG FOX
Summary of Judgment
Mr Justice Colton, sitting today in Belfast Crown Court, sentenced Donach Rice to a determinate
custodial sentence of six years’ imprisonment for the “single-punch” manslaughter of Padra ig Fox
on 8 December 2018
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. He also sentenced Nathan Rice and Paul Magennis for offences committed on
the same date.
Factual Background
Padraig Fox (“the deceased”) was a vulnerable adult who lived alone in a flat in Newca stle, Co
Down. Although he lived independently at his own request his family were concerned about him.
He had some learning difficulties in his youth and in the past had succumbed to the excessive use of
alcohol and illicit drugs. Paul Magennis had been friendly with the deceased and lived in the same
apartment block. Donach and Nathan Rice are cousins and on th e date in question were a t the
apartment block at the invitation of Magennis. There were two other men present – the deceased
and a friend of Magennis, Jim Crilly. The five men consumed alcohol, “acid” and canna bis
throughout the evening. The Rices and Magennis left the flat about 08:00 on the morning of 8
December 2018 to buy vodka. They returned to the flat and a short time later there was an
altercation between Donach Rice and the deceased. Donach Rice punched the deceased once to the
head causing him to fall to the kitchen floor which caused a bleed to his brain and fractured skull.
The body of the deceased was discovered later that day by a man who went to the apartment block
to look for an electric bike that he suspected Magennis had stolen from him. A solicitor for the Rices
then contacted the police on their behalf to say they had been in the flat with the deceased and
wanted to a ssist the police. They gave statements in which they alleged that the fa tal blow was
administered by Magennis after a dispute. Donach Rice claimed to have tried to pull Magennis and
the deceased apart and that Magennis brought a knife down from the top of the cupboards and
inflicted a knife cut to his forearm. In his statement, Nathan Rice alleged that he saw Magennis
punch the deceased once in the face and that the deceased fell. Both said they panicked and left the
scene.
In the course of the police investigation, CCTV footage revealed that the deceased, Donach and
Nathan Rice walked to the Slieve Donard Hotel at about 05 :00 on 8 December. The cousins burgled
the premises, stealing three bottles of alcohol. The deceased did not enter the hotel. The police
were able to establish that after the deceased was struck, Nathan Rice and Jim Crilly left the flat at
around 0 9:00. Donach Rice and Magennis did not leave until 13 minutes later. It was during this
time that Donach Rice and Magennis cut their arms and placed a machete under the a rm of the
deceased, in effect staging a self-defence scenario. The offence of a ssault arose from an attack by
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Article 8 (3) of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 provides th at the cus todial period shall not
exceed one h alf of the term of the s entence.
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