Man jailed for life for murdering fishman

At Downpatrick Crown Court, defence QC Gavan Duffy asked for the charges to be put to Jason Carr again and it was then that Carr, who celebrates his 22nd birthday tomorrow, pleaded guilty to the killing on May 24, 2018.

Carr, from Crew Hill Court in Ardglass, also confessed to assaulting Mr Zait, stealing a bottle of vodka from him and causing criminal damage to the front door of a property next door to his two days before the murder, on May 22.

Mr Zait, a 45-year-old Romanian fisherman, died on May 24, two days after being taken to hospital with head injuries, including a blood clot to the brain and suspected fractured jaw.

Following Carr’s confessions, Judge Geoffrey Miller QC told the killer that for the offence of murder “there is only one sentence proscribed by law, that of life imprisonment”.

Remanding Carr into custody, the judge ordered various reports to be compiled and listed a tariff hearing, when he will set the minimum period Carr will stay in jail before being considered for release, for February 21.

Many of Carr’s friends and relatives had filled the public gallery, many of them crying with one telling the killer “keep your head up Jason” as he was led in handcuffs to the cells.

His father David Carr, from Kildare Court, is charged with witness intimidation.