LAST EDITED ON Jun-26-03 AT 07:49 PM (EDT)
 
Apparently they'll kill you there over a cig..This story is eerily similar to another recent one in the news.


BBC
Killer gets 'at least 12 years'

A teenager who murdered a pensioner in a row about a cigarette has been ordered to be detained at the pleasure of the secretary of state.
Downpatrick Crown Court heard that 18-year-old Colin Boles had taken enough drink and drugs to either kill a person or leave them in a coma before attacking pensioner Russell McMahon.

Boles, from Whitehill Avenue in Bangor, County Down, was just 17 when he attacked Mr McMahon at Castle Park in the seaside town on 25 July, 2001.

The court heard Boles had initially refused to answer police questions, but later produced a statement in which he claimed he had lost his head after Mr McMahon refused to give him a cigarette.

He said he blanked out and lost control of himself after the pensioner allegedly punched him.

A prosecution lawyer said a taxi driver who had witnessed the attack claimed Boles had returned three times to "rain blows and kicks" on his victim.

After the attack Boles chatted to a friend in a car, resting his blood soaked arms on the car roof.

When news of the murder emerged, the friend found the bloody print on the car and contacted police.

Mr McMahon died from a heart attack.

Sentencing Boles on Thursday, the judge told him he would serve at least 12 years before being considered for release.