A former soldier has been jailed for just 15 years for the brutal murder of his Irish girlfriend in a hotel in Spain.
Keith Byrne has been told the two years he has already served, including time in custody since his sentencing in May, will be counted towards his sentence.
The sentencing decision, published in a 121-page written document on Thursday by the judge who presided over Bern's trial in the city of Tarragona on Spain's east coast, means he could be free again in about a decade.
State prosecutors have asked for a 20-year jail term for the 34-year-old Irishman after a jury found him guilty of strangling Kirsty to death with a hair straightener cord at their four-star hotel in the popular Costa Dorada resort of Salou on July 2, 2023, after she told him she intended to leave.
A private attorney for Kirsty's family said that after the verdict, she would still insist on the 30-year sentence she had sought before and during her trial.
Sentencing judge Susana Calvo Gonzalez said the fact that Brian and his 36-year-old partner had been in a stable relationship for eight months made the horrific crime even more serious.
However, she added that the defendant's use of alcohol and drugs before he killed Kirsty had reduced his cognitive abilities and was a significant mitigating factor.
A private attorney for Kirsty's family said that after her conviction, she would still seek the 30-year sentence she had argued for before and during her trial.
The judge said in her lengthy ruling rejecting private prosecutor Estela Cortes's arguments for a 30-year prison term: “I recognize that there is substantial merit in recommending a lesser sentence and therefore a term of seven years and six months to 15 years.
“Within this range, recognition of aggravating circumstances and motives for the act… leads to the imposition of the maximum penalty – 15 years' imprisonment.”
A jury found Keith Bryan guilty of murdering his south Dublin girlfriend on May 7 after three days of deliberations.
An Irishman has told a court in Tarragona that a mother-of-one committed suicide at the four-star Magnolia Hotel.
He described himself as a “respectful and intelligent” father of three who would never commit an act of domestic violence and denigrated Kirsty, claiming she could “change into four people in one day”, especially after he said her addiction to alcohol and cocaine left their relationship “poisoned”.
Kirsty's mother, Jackie Ward, described Byrne on the first day of the trial on April 23
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
