A man who stabbed his best friend to death has been jailed for 10 years.
Darren Riley inflicted 21 wounds on Robert Reid in his own home in Arnage Place, Aberdeen on October 2016.
The 29-year-old had originally been accused of murdering the former junior boxing champion, but was found guilty of culpable homicide after a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Yesterday, judge Lord Kinclaven told Riley that Mr Reid’s relatives had been left “devastated” by their loss.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, the judge said: “It goes without saying that your voluntary intoxication may help to explain the background to these tragic events but that is not an excuse.”
During the trial, Riley had claimed he had been acting in self-defence after 26-year-old Mr Reid threatened to kill him during an argument, before punching two of his teeth out and slashing him with a knife.
Defence counsel Ian Duguid QC said Mr Reid had been Riley’s best friend for the “best part of 14 years since they were at school together”.
He said they had been drinking and taking valium and were enjoying each other’s company until violence broke out.
Mr Duguid said there was really no premeditation, and told the court: “Two minutes before all this happened there was nothing between them and this all arose almost in the blink of an eye.”
He added Riley “bitterly regrets” what had happened, and stressed that following his release on bail ahead of his trial Riley had led a “trouble free, fairly reclusive lifestyle”.
“As far as he is concerned an incident like this will never happen again,” he told the court.
Mr Duguid said that he fully accepted that Mr Reid’s loved ones would continue to suffer “a huge loss”.
Lord Kinclaven acknowledged Mr Reid had been Riley’s “best friend for many years” and that he was genuinely remorseful and upset following the incident.
But he pointed out the jury rejected his self-defence claim, and said there was no alternative to jail. He sentenced Riley to 10 years.
