A TEENAGER who stabbed his best friend to death in a frenzied attack which left him like a ``human pin cushion'' was jailed for life at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.
Ian Gallacher, 19, of Garry Drive, Foxbar, Paisley, was found guilty of the attack on Mr Willie Guinea, 21, in Marshall's Lane, in the town centre last November.
The court was told it was one of the most brutal and frenzied killings detectives had investigated. Mr Guinea's body was like a human pin cushion, with 40 major stab wounds.
During the attack, Gallacher plunged his knife 19 times into his victim's head, face, and neck, some of the wounds penetrating the skull and brain. Many of the major organs were damaged, including his heart, which was pierced four times, and his ribs and breastbone were sheared.
A detective said: ``It was a blood bath. At first, we thought it was the work of a maniac.'' However, Gallacher was sane and fit to plead when he appeared for trial.
The court was told that the pair had been friends since attending Castlehead High School together. Mr Guinea later went to Blackpool to work as a chef and, three weeks before he died, returned to Paisley to look for work and re-kindle the friendship.
Mr Guinea's girlfriend remained in their Blackpool flat while he stayed with his grandmother and aunt in Kenilworth Way, Foxbar.
On the day he died, Mr Guinea and Gallacher, who was unemployed, had been drinking cider and lager throughout the day before going to the town centre to continue.
Mr Guinea was seen with Gallacher and was careering into walls and doors in a drunken state. Later he was seen being punched and kicked by Gallacher in a close.
In the early hours of the morning, Gallacher, screaming and swearing, burst into the casualty department of Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, with a cut on his arm and scratches.
He head-butted walls and smashed a glass partition with a punch.
When police arrived, Gallacher told them he and his friend had been attacked by five men, two with knives, and he directed them to the scene.
Initially, although charged with breach of the peace as a result of his behaviour in hospital, Gallacher was treated as an assault victim.
However, when questioned, Gallacher confessed, claiming Mr Guinea had made a homosexual advance to him. Later, he said he confessed because he could not take any more questioning, and insisted Mr Guinea had been killed by the five strangers.
Lord Milligan ordered Gallacher, a father of two, to be detained for life.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article