A killer has been jailed after stabbing his friend through the heart in an attack in Wishaw.
Francis McConnachie, 36, murdered 21-year-old Thomas O’Rourke on Coldstream Crescent in the North Lanarkshire town on February 24, 2023. Glasgow High Court heard on Monday (January 6) that a row broke out between the pair before the killing.
McConnachie repeatedly landed blows on Celtic fan Mr O’Rourke’s head and body before stabbing him four times in his chest, ribs and then heart, before dealing another blow of blunt force to his victim’s head. McConnachie claimed self-defence as he denied murdering Mr O’Rourke, according to the Daily Record, and had been under the influence of alcohol and valium at the time of the incident.
McConnachie was jailed for eight years. On sentencing, Lord Arthurson said: “You assaulted and killed Thomas O’Rourke, a young man who was then only 21 years of age. You repeatedly punched him on the head and body, repeatedly struck him on the body with a knife and inflicted blunt force trauma to his head.
“In convicting you of the crime of culpable homicide, the jury in this case has plainly rejected your position of self-defence, but has further held that provocation, such as would operate to reduce the crime of murder charged on the indictment to that of culpable homicide, was engaged in the circumstances of this case.
“On your own evidence you left your home and involved yourself in a confrontation with the deceased in a public space within a residential area, having earlier consumed alcohol and taken valium. In particular, you inflicted multiple knife wounds upon your victim, the wound which penetrated his heart being the direct cause of his death.
“The jury has held that there was a sound evidential basis for provocation, you having been the subject of a knife attack by the deceased, and that therefore the criminal nature and quality of what was otherwise a murderous attack by you, which led to the death of your victim, should be reflected in a verdict of culpable homicide.
“You should be under no illusions as to the scale of the dreadful loss sustained by Mr O’Rourke’s family in respect of their bereavement, occasioned as that was by your fatal attack upon him.”
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