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26/03/2009
'Life' Sentence For Taking Co Derry Man's Life
The man found guilty of battering a Limavady schoolteacher to death nearly two years ago has been handed a life sentence.
Alcoholic Victor Kennedy, 31, attacked Michael McGinnis on 6 July 2007. Kennedy intended to steal Mr McGinnis's mobile phone to sell on.
The victim, Mr McGinnis suffered multiple rib fractures, a broken sternum and had a chamber of his heart ruptured.
Jailing Kennedy at Londonderry Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, Mr Justice Weir said he would spend at least 14 years in prison.
He told him he would not receive any remission on the sentence and warned him that when he becomes eligible for parole, he had "no doubt" the life sentence review commissioners would have regard to his 91 other criminal convictions.
In his assessment he was a "high risk of harm" to the public.
Kennedy confessed to pushing Mr McGinnis down steps and then kicking him in the side before going through his pockets to steal the phone.
However, Deputy State Pathologist Dr Alastair Bentley found Mr McGinnis's injuries were unlikely to have been sustained by a "simple fall".
Mr McGinnis's body was found near steps at Blackburn Path in Limavady.
See: Limavady Shocked At Second Violent Death
(BMcC/JM)
Alcoholic Victor Kennedy, 31, attacked Michael McGinnis on 6 July 2007. Kennedy intended to steal Mr McGinnis's mobile phone to sell on.
The victim, Mr McGinnis suffered multiple rib fractures, a broken sternum and had a chamber of his heart ruptured.
Jailing Kennedy at Londonderry Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, Mr Justice Weir said he would spend at least 14 years in prison.
He told him he would not receive any remission on the sentence and warned him that when he becomes eligible for parole, he had "no doubt" the life sentence review commissioners would have regard to his 91 other criminal convictions.
In his assessment he was a "high risk of harm" to the public.
Kennedy confessed to pushing Mr McGinnis down steps and then kicking him in the side before going through his pockets to steal the phone.
However, Deputy State Pathologist Dr Alastair Bentley found Mr McGinnis's injuries were unlikely to have been sustained by a "simple fall".
Mr McGinnis's body was found near steps at Blackburn Path in Limavady.
See: Limavady Shocked At Second Violent Death
(BMcC/JM)
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