Man sentenced to three years for manslaughter

A man has been sentenced to three years in prison for the manslaughter of a father from County Down.

Marc Doak, 27, from the Shore Road in Belfast will spend half the time in prison and half on licence for the unlawful killing of Ryan McNab.

Mr McNab, 31, from Bangor, died after an assault in Rathcoole, County Antrim in October 2022.

Doak had been due to stand trial for his murder, but earlier this year he entered a guilty plea to a manslaughter charge.

On Thursday, the judge said the assault had been “an act of self defence” which strayed into unlawful killing – and he said Doak did not pose a risk of serious harm to the public.

Mr McNab’s daughter told the court she missed her father “every day”.

The court heard Mr McNab died after a fight between the two men at Doak’s former home in Barna Square.

The court was told that both men were heavily intoxicated when the fight broke out. They did not know each other and had never met before that day.

Doak claimed that he had acted in self defence, putting Mr McNab in a chokehold after he attacked him with a glass bottle.

The post mortem report showed the cause of death had features consistent with neck compression.

In her victim impact statement, Mr McNab’s mother described each day since her son’s death as a “terrible nightmare”.

“No one in this world is perfect but my son did not deserve to die in the way he did,” she said.

In her statement, Mr McNab’s young daughter revealed her father had been killed on her eighth birthday.

“As a direct result, instead of looking forward to my birthday, I have to remember: this is the day my daddy was killed.”

She said she was robbed of many things that would have made her father proud, including her last day of primary school, her first day of high school and her school formal.

“People at school and after school clubs pick on me and make fun of me because I don’t have a daddy anymore,” she said.

“I miss my daddy every day.”

The judge said Doak had been assessed as not presenting a significant risk of posing serious harm to the public.

He said this was “an act of self defence” which strayed into unlawful killing but only by a narrow margin.

In recognition of Doak’s guilty plea, the sentence was reduced from four to three years.

Due to time already served, Doak will be released from prison in roughly 12 months’ time.

If he breaches his licence, he will be returned to prison.