A killer who has embraced Christianity has been jailed for eight years after fatally stabbing a Lanarkshire man in the heart.
Stuart Dunsmore, 50, repeatedly punched David Devine and struck him with a knife, resulting in the victim dying in hospital days after the assault at a house in Larkhall.
A judge told Dunsmore: “After trial you stand convicted of the culpable homicide of David Devine in that you caused his death by violent means involving the use of a bladed weapon. Your victim died of a stab wound to the heart.”
Lord Armstrong said he was in no doubt that the family of the victim has been deeply affected and said he had read three victim impact statements.
The judge said at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You have caused them to suffer devastating loss and emotional harm.”
Lord Armstrong said he accepted that Dunsmore’s actions were not premeditated, but pointed out that he has amassed 51 previous convictions and spent earlier periods in jail.
He told Dunsmore: “I am satisfied that there is no appropriate alternative to a custodial sentence.”
The judge ordered that the killer should be kept under supervision for a further four-year period when he can be returned to prison if he breaches licence conditions.
Dunsmore, a prisoner at Glasgow’s Barlinnie jail, had originally denied murdering Mr Devine during the attack at an address in Glen Avenue, in August 2021.
He was found guilty at an earlier trial of committing the lesser offence of culpable homicide, under provocation.
The 41-year-old victim never recovered after being knifed and later died at the Golden Jubilee Hospital, in Clydebank.
Dunsmore told the court that they and others were at the house having a “good blether” and were listening to music, but claimed that the victim, who he said was a pal, came at him with a blade and he had grabbed a knife.
Defence counsel Tony Graham KC said there was no ill feeling or build-up to what occurred, but there was an element in Dunsmore’s reaction that was “excessive”.
He said Dunsmore had written a letter which he had wanted to place before the court and added: “What he does seek to do is emphasise the change in his lifestyle since embracing Christianity. He is a man who participates actively in church services within the prison.”
The defence counsel said Dunsmore spent time reading the Bible and other texts and was seeking to undertake an Open University degree course, potentially in divinity.
Mr Graham said: “He has taken human life and I would submit he has had the ultimate wake-up call.”
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