to death during an argument.

Yesterday Gregory Howard Dill shook his head when Chief Justice Austin Ward handed out his sentence at the Supreme Court.

After the hearing Dill's lawyer Archie Warner said he would be appealing both sentence and conviction.

On Tuesday, a jury cleared Dill of murder but found him guilty of the manslaughter of David Bruce Riley. He appeared in court again yesterday for sentencing.

Mr. Riley's relatives were in court and Dill apologised to them before being sentenced -- prompting an angry outburst from a family member.

"Why don't you look at us when you say that,'' said the relative. Dill then turned and faced the family and repeated his apology.

During the trial the court heard that Mr. Riley, 33, of Warwick, was found lying in the doorway of a friend's apartment in Angle Street after being stabbed in the stomach by Dill.

A series of witnesses testified during the trial that the two men had been fighting that day.

At one point Mr. Riley was seen wielding a knife, while Dill, of Angle Street, was seen brandishing a metal pipe, they said.

Yesterday Crown counsel Wilhelm Bourne told the court that Dill deliberately armed himself with a knife.

But Mr. Bourne told Mr. Justice Ward that he did not think that the sentence should be at the upper end of the scale since "this is not the worse case of manslaughter''. The maximum sentence Dill faced was life in prison.

Mr. Warner said yesterday that his client was provoked and only armed himself for his own protection.

He said Dill told the court that Mr. Riley chased him with a stick, beat him and tried to strike him on the head prior to the stabbing. He sustained an injured arm which required a cast to be worn for several weeks.

Mr. Warner also pointed out that Dill turned himself in to Police shortly after the stabbing.

Dill told Mr. Justice Ward that the incident had caused pain for both of the parties involved.

But Mr. Justice Ward told Dill that he could not agree with the five or seven-year sentences suggested by the defence and Crown.

"Acceptance of that would show a disregard for life,'' he said.

Gregory Dill