A FORMER IRISH soldier has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for stabbing his childhood best friend nine times in January 2022. 

The court heard that Frank Kelly (40), of Mulroy Road in Cabra, Dublin, had previously served for nine years in the Defence Forces and served abroad in Liberia. 

The court heard that both men were under the influence on the day of the stabbing and that what started as a fight escalated when Kelly first procured a bottle and struck his friend Darren Sherlock with it, before proceeding to procure a knife and stab his friend nine times. 

The incident happened in the house that Kelly lived in in Cabra on 29 January 2022.

Prosecuting Garda Diane Byrne told the court that Sherlock was able to escape the house where the attack took place before collapsing. 

Kelly had inflicted nine relatively “superficial” stab wounds on Sherlock, though hospital staff initially feared that his lung had been punctured. 

He eventually made a full recovery. 

Judge Martin Nolan reviewed video footage of the attack that was taken on a mobile phone – which was initially set up to record the fight between the two men. 

In the footage the two men could be seen fist fighting and grappling with each other on the floor. 

Kelly could be seen procuring a bottle and hitting Sherlock with it. Sherlock asked him to stop several times. 

Kelly threatened to shoot and kill Sherlock and said that he was going to get a knife. 

Sherlock exited the frame of the video as he backed away and could be heard pleading with Kelly to stop. 

Sherlock fell silent and the sound of Kelly stabbing his friend repeatedly was audible from the footage. Sirens could be heard as gardaí arrived on the scene of the attack. 

Garda Byrne told the court that Kelly initially claimed he had acted in self-defence, and then later when confronted with the footage by gardaí, he repeated claims that he acted in self-defence, and said that there is “no way of knowing what a fight will escalate to”. 

Kelly later entered a guilty plea to the charge of assault contrary to section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act. 

The court was told that he had nine previous convictions but that none of them related to violent incidents and that in the main they were for road traffic offences. 

Kelly’s legal representative told Judge Nolan that he had no other incidents while on bail, and that he had a considerable work history. 

Letters vouching for Kelly’s character were submitted to the Judge from his partner, his child, and his uncle. 

A psychological report was also submitted which stated that Kelly had dealt with anger issues. 

In giving his sentence, Nolan said that it could not be non-custodial due to the seriousness of the assault. 

He noted that Kelly had expressed remorse and cooperated with gardaí. 

Nolan said that he took into account the fact that Kelly was an “accomplished man” who had “served Ireland” during his time in the Defence Forces. 

Kelly appeared in court in a navy suit with gelled hair. He did not react as his sentence was delivered. His family was also present in court.