The wife of a publican who was beaten up and left to die on a toilet floor said his voice had been taken on the night he died but she was now giving it back to him.

Romanian national Marian Lingurar Jr (24) was sentenced to nine years in prison yesterday for his role in the manslaughter of Co Galway teacher and publican John Kenny in 2011.

Speaking at his sentencing hearing at Galway Circuit Criminal Court, Kathleen Kenny addressed Lingurar directly on behalf of herself and her daughter Gillian.

Looking at the accused, who sat passively looking back at her, Ms Kenny said: “Gillian and I want to look him in the eyes and ask him why did they need to inflict such horrific pain and suffering on John?

“Do you even remember John’s last words? What did happen?” she asked.

“Why did you needlessly kill a defenceless, kind and loving man who we loved more that all the world?

“Marian Lingurar Junior, you engaged in a brutal and cowardly act. We will never know the true events of that dreadful night and so many questions will plague us for the rest of our lives,” Ms Kenny said.

She said John’s voice had been taken from him the night he died but their statement would give him back his voice.

Lingurar, with former addresses in Loughgeorge, Claregalway, Co Galway, and Blackpool, Co Cork, was found guilty by a jury last January of the manslaughter of Mr Kenny (56), at Kenny’s pub in Oughterard on September 25, 2011.

The trial heard Mr Kenny was badly beaten, tied up and left to die alone on the floor of the ladies’ toilet in his pub by a gang of men, including the accused, who had planned to rob him that night.

The accused had been a 16-year-old bouncer, working on the door of the pub the previous evening.

Eyewitnesses, who gave evidence at the trial, saw him let other Romanian men into the pub after closing time and bolt the door from inside.

Mr Kenny was alone in the pub at the time. Ms Kenny and her daughter found Mr Kenny’s body the following evening.

He had sustained severe injuries to his upper body, consistent with blows from a heavy object and with kicks and punches. His hands had been tied behind his back and a jacket wound tightly around his face and head.

Post-mortem results indicated he would not have died immediately and would have had difficulty breathing due to the position in which his body had been left, face-down on the floor.

Lingurar was also found guilty of a second charge of burglary at Mr Kenny’s pub on the same night after it emerged a “wad” of cash had been taken from Mr Kenny’s pocket and also from the till.

The accused absconded from the jurisdiction before his initial trial was due to take place in 2013, but was arrested when he returned to Cork last May.

His sentence hearing heard he had changed his name to Marian Lazare while in Romania and had ‘signed on’ for Job Seeker’s Allowance on his return to Ireland last year, using a different identity.

He had denied any involvement in the assault and robbery of Mr Kenny.

Imposing a nine-year sentence, Judge Rory McCabe said there was no scope for suspending any portion of it as the accused told the probation service he did not accept the guilty verdict.

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