A Brazilian Deliveroo rider has been found not guilty of murdering 16-year-old Josh Dunne during a fight over a stolen bike in the East Wall area of Dublin last year.
George Gonzaga Bento, who was living in Dublin 3 at the time, admitted stabbing the Ballymun teenager but insisted he was acting in self-defence when he did so.
CCTV footage of the fight that led to Josh Dunne's death showed George Gonzaga Bento and his friend approaching a man on a moped on East Wall Road.
They suspected he had stolen a fellow food delivery man's bike.
A group of young boys on bikes arrived at the scene moments later.
An older men arrived on foot soon afterwards and all of them got involved. Josh Dunne included.
Mr Bento insisted he had no intention of hurting anyone, claiming the knife he used to cut fruit with became a means with which to defend himself and his friend.
Self-defence can completely clear a person of wrongdoing if it can be shown that it was justified, and that reasonable force was used, and that was the outcome in this case.
Mr Bento, who came to Ireland in search of a better life, is now free to walk out of the courthouse after spending almost a year and a half in custody.
Very emotional scenes in court after George Gonzaga Bento’s acquittal.
His partner, who gave evidence and has been there throughout the trial, burst into tears and couldn’t wait to get to the dock to embrace him.
Josh Dunne’s family left as soon as the verdicts were delivered.— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) June 14, 2022
He has also been cleared of assault causing harm to two others during that fight, and of producing a knife with the intention of intimidating another person.
The jury returned with their unanimous verdicts after just over eight hours of deliberations.
After being released from custody, Mr Bento had this message for Josh Dunne's family.
"I say sorry at the beginning and at the end - hopefully one day she could forgive me for what happened, but it's not my intention.
"And I continue to say sorry."
