A Cork judge sentenced Joseph Butler to 12 years, with the last two suspended, for the manslaughter of Paula Canty.

The sentence follows a guilty plea to manslaughter after the DPP accepted that plea on a murder indictment. The judge rejected Butler's accident claim, citing pathology, blood-spatter evidence, and his failure to call emergency services.

Judge Eileen Creedon sentenced Joseph Butler, 43, a native of Midleton, Co. Cork, on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in the Central Criminal Court in Cork to 12 years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Paula Canty, 31, with the last two years suspended on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years after release, The Irish Times, BBC News, and the Irish Examiner reported. The effective custodial term is 10 years. Butler was originally charged with murder in the Jan. 3, 2025, killing at a Belfry apartment on Bridewell Lane in Mallow; the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter.

Canty died from a single knife wound 11.5 centimetres into her chest, The Irish Times and Irish Examiner reported, citing pathology evidence. She had been due to celebrate her 32nd birthday three days later. Butler lived with Canty and his brother Michael John Butler, who was her partner. Coverage said they had been drinking with another woman when an argument broke out. Butler told gardaí he did not feel guilty because it was an accident, that he grabbed a knife during a struggle, and that Canty was "grand" when he left; he said he learned she was dead later from a phone call. Judge Creedon dismissed that account as inconsistent with the postmortem and blood-spatter analysis, The Irish Times reported.

"Paula Canty was a vulnerable person, and was much smaller and physically weaker than Joseph Butler. It is not credible that she posed a danger to him that required him to plunge a knife 11.5cm into her chest. He left the apartment and there was no call to the emergency services. This demonstrates a callousness," Judge Creedon said, according to The Irish Times and BBC News. The judge said the appropriate headline sentence was 14 years, mitigated to 12 for his background, apology, and guilty plea, before suspending the final two years. Victim impact statements from Darragh Canty, Rianna Canty, and Sinead Canty described the family's grief. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Butler pleaded guilty to manslaughter; Friday's hearing imposed the sentence on that plea.