A kickboxer killed a fellow guest at a party with a powerful roundhouse kick to his face, a court has heard.
Dad Shane O’Rourke died “shortly” after being kicked by black belt Kevin Fitzgerald and crashing to the floor.
Paramedics rushed to the house where the drug-fuelled gathering was taking place but the stricken man could not be saved.
In a statement read to Swansea Crown Court Mr O’Rourke’s fiancee said as a result of the attack she had gone from “planning a wedding to planning a funeral”.
The court heard that on the night of November 18 last year 30-year-old Mr O’Rourke went to a party in Garnswllt, near Ammanford, where he took cocaine and amphetamine.
Christopher Clee QC, prosecuting, said the victim left the party around 9am the following morning and went to another party being held in the house of defendant Fitzgerald in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. A witness said he was “extremely drunk” on arrival.
Mr O’Rourke’s behaviour was described as being rowdy at the party and during the course of the morning he exposed his penis to guests and made threats to kill them. At one stage he grabbed a kitchen knife before being disarmed in a struggle.
The court heard Mr O’Rourke and 51-year-old Fitzgerald became involved in an altercation in the kitchen of the Wind Street house and a fellow partygoer described seeing the defendant – a second dan black belt in kickboxing – take a step backwards before delivering a single roundhouse kick to the victim’s chin.
Mr Clee said Mr O’Rourke was seen to “spin around 180 degrees” after being kicked and fall to the floor where he landed on his stomach.
The court heard the casualty was laid on his side on the floor and the defendant put a blanket over him and said: “Leave him sleep it off”.
The prosecutor said at midday Fitzgerald called 999 and asked for an ambulance, claiming the victim had fallen. He then performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the casualty.
Paramedics were quickly on the scene but Mr O’Rourke could not be saved and he was pronounced dead at 12.56pm.
The court heard a post-mortem examination found a laceration behind the casualty’s left ear, a fracture to the skull bones in that area, and bleeding on the brain. Blood tests showed he was three times the legal alcohol limit for driving and had a level of cocaine in his system consistent with “recreational use”.
The cause of death was given as alcohol and concussive injuries and medics concluded there had only been a “short period of survival” after the blow to the head.
In an impact statement from O’Rourke’s fiancee which was read to court by the prosecutor she said she had been unable to sleep since the death of her partner and “sometimes the heartache means I cannot breathe”.
She said Mr O’Rourke had only got to enjoy one Christmas and birthday with their young son and wouldn’t now be able to enjoy his accomplishments as the boy grew.
She said she texted her fiancee every night, adding: “I have gone from planning a wedding to planning a funeral.”
In a statement from the deceased’s mum she said the death had had a huge impact on his two sisters and it was like she had “lost” her daughters as well as her son. She said the family had thought of moving away from the area but that would mean “leaving Shane on his own”.
Fitzgerald, of Wind Street, Ammanford, pleaded guilty to manslaughter when he appeared in the dock on Tuesday.
Mr Clee said the plea to unlawful killing rather than to murder was acceptable to the prosecution on the basis that there was a single kick and the witnesses to the incident had all been drinking and taking drugs and their evidence was “inconsistent”.
John Hipkin QC, for Fitzgerald, said his client felt “dreadful remorse” for what he had done to Mr O’Rourke that day.
He said it was accepted the defendant had taken cocaine and amphetamine the night before the Ammanford party and he asked the court to take into account the “context” of the incident including the behaviour of all parties involved.
Judge Keith Thomas told the defendant he had delivered a “forceful blow” to Mr O’Rourke and must have known the risk of such an action given his kickboxing experience.
Giving the defendant a one-third discount for his guilty plea he sentenced him to eight years in prison. He will serve half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
