A Finglas man has been found guilty of murdering his friend and dumping his body parts in the Grand Canal.
Paul Wells Senior of Barnamore Park in Finglas denied murdering Kenneth O’Brien almost in January 2016.
The 50-year-old's trial heard he dismembered his friend afterwards with a chainsaw.
He then dumped his head, torso, arms and legs in the Grand Canal.
His hands have never been recovered.
After initially denying having any involvement in the death of Ken O’Brien, Paul Wells began to make confessions in his eighth interview with Gardaí.
He told them his friend wanted him to kill his girlfriend and that he called over to his house on the night in question with a gun.
He claimed he refused to do it and a fight broke out, during which he used the gun to shoot him in the back of the head.
Through what the prosecuting barrister described as "crocodile tears", he told Gardaí he was acting in self-defence and then went into survival mode.
Sean Gillane told the jurors what they saw in those interviews wasn't the product of sorrow, but rather the "crushing weight of evidence".
What happened to Mr. O’Brien was an "efficient execution", he said and he described the clean-up operation as “almost professional".
The jury found him guilty after five hours of deliberations.
Mr. O’Brien’s father Gerry described the putting of his son’s torso in a suitcase afterwards as “barbaric” and he said he couldn’t function until the rest of his body parts were found.
His partner Eimear Dunne said her life has now become a living nightmare.
Through his barrister, Paul Wells described today’s verdict as an “error” and indicated his intention to appeal it.
He could be heard saying “I’m very sorry” to Mr. O’Brien’s family as he was then led away to begin his life sentence.
