A man was brutally stabbed to death for the sake
A man was brutally stabbed to death for the sake of the few
pounds in his electricity meter, the Old Bailey heard.
Roy Lungley, 45, was knifed through the heart when he caught David
Donnelly in the act of stealing the meter’s cash box inside his home.
Panic-stricken Donnelly, 29, lashed out with a kitchen knife
provided by his younger brother, Shane, when his victim wrestled him
to the floor.
The brothers fled, leaving their dying victim bleeding on
the floor of his Plumstead home.
He died before a lodger could summon help.
On Thursday David Donnelly, who was described as being in the
‘bottom two per cent’ of intelligence, was jailed for seven and a half
years for manslaughter.
His brother Shane, 22, was jailed for three years for robbery.
The court was told that Mr Lungley had befriended the pair while
drinking on the evening of April 11 last year and invited them back to
his flat in Marble House, Felspar Close, Plumstead.
David Donnelly said he was going to use the loo but instead began
raiding the electricity meter cash box, said Mr Clive Nicholls, QC,
prosecuting.
He was caught in the act by Mr Lungley, who wrestled him to the
ground.
Donnelly called out to his brother Shane to help him.
Shane, who was in the kitchen, grabbed a knife, dumped it beside
the grappling men and fled.
David Donnelly clasped the knife and stabbed his victim in the
heart before following his brother out of the flat with pnds stlng 67
in 50p coins.
A lodger, who had been sitting in his bedroom, was roused by the
wounded man’s desperate cries for help.
Emergency services were
called but Mr Lungley, a garage cleaner, died before help arrived.
A few days later David Donnelly tearfully confessed to the killing
to his mother.
On April 30 both brothers appeared at Plumstead police station and
admitted their parts in what happened.
David Donnelly pleaded with detectives again and again for them
to accept that he was not a violent man and had never been in a
fight before the tragic killing.
He admitted manslaughter and robbery.
The court heard from a psychologist who said David Donnelly had an
IQ of 71 – just above the ‘cut-off’ point for mental defectiveness.
Shane Donnelly admitted robbery.
Murder charges against both
brothers were not proceeded with.
Judge Kenneth Machin QC told jobless David Donelly, of Cherry
Orchard Estate, Charlton: ‘As a result of your knifing, a man is now
dead.
‘Conduct of this sort can, must and will be deterred by this
court.
‘
Turning to unemployed Shane Donnelly, of Crystal House, Felspar
Close, Plumstead, the judge said: ‘I am bound to put out of my mind
the tragic events that followed your departure from the flat.
‘
ENDS
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