A 20-year-old Rochdale, U.K. man has been convicted of manslaughter and given four years in prison after he killed a 19-year-old royal marine in a fight outside of a bar. Shortly following the altercation, Reece Kay tweeted that his hand hurt from delivering the blow to Commando Wes Clutterbuck.
According to court documents, Clutterbuck had been attempting to break up a fight, when Kay came up behind him and delivered a single punch – one that dropped the marine. He wound up smashing his head on a curb during the fall, and later died of brain injuries.
After the fight, Kay tweeted “fucking hand is killing me!”
Kay didn’t know that he had killed Clutterbuck until the next morning, when he turned himself into police. Kay was admittedly intoxicated during the incident.
The tweet is still up on Kay’s account. Before boasting about the punch the killed Clutterback, Kay publicly wondered if he should even go out that night:
Dunno whether to go out or not tonight…
— Reece Kay (@Reece_Kay93) June 28, 2013
@CharlotteMoody_ @OwenBrierley180 @RachelSkinner22 @aimeemarsland93 Hahaha, fucking hand is killing me!
— Reece Kay (@Reece_Kay93) June 29, 2013
Kay’s lawyer said that his client was a “thoroughly decent man.”
“His remorse is apparent and repeated again and again. He has never sought to blame or cast any sign of the conduct on the late Wesley Clutterbuck. It is a stark lesson to young people who get drunk and aggressive how one blow can lead to a tragic loss of life. He would do anything to take that one punch back. He is a thoroughly decent young man,” said Attorney Guy Mathieson.
The judge agreed in sentencing, saying that he felt Kay had genuine remorse for what he had done and that alcohol definitely played a big part in it. The sentence of 4 years in jail is seen as lenient – especially to Commando Clutterbuck’s mother.
“This sentence is not long enough at all…[young people] have just seen that it is all an absolute sham and this sentence says it is ok to go out and punch and kill someone. I hope that this man cannot close his eyes at night for what he has done to our son. I will never ever forgive him,” she said.
[via The Telegraph]