Two truck drivers deny murder of man at Cork filling station

A man who died during a row at a filling station in north Cork had brought the metal bar he was fatally struck with to the scene himself, a murder trial was told.

Marcin Skrzypezyk (31) and Tomasz Wasowicz (45), deny murdering Ludovit Pasztor (40), at the Amber filling station in Fermoy on February 21st, 2017.

Prosecution counsel, Siobhán Lankford SC told the jury of eight men and four women at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Cork, that they would hear the deceased, a Slovakian national, and his Polish friend Mariusz Osail (40), had been drinking when they went to the Amber filling station in Fermoy to get more alcohol.

She told the jury, sitting before Ms Justice Carmel Stewart, that they would hear the two men were leaving the filling station at 9.45pm when they started talking to Mr Skrzypezyk and Mr Wasowicz, who were working as drivers for Macroom Haulage.

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She said the two Polish truck drivers had arrived separately at the filling station and were planning to stay in the parking area for the night. She said the jury would hear they had been chatting in Mr Wasowicz's truck but they got out of the cab to go to the toilet when they encountered Mr Pasztor and Mr Osail. The conversation turned sour and an argument ensued before Mr Pasztor and Mr Osail left.

She said the jury would hear they went to Mr Osail’s house and picked up two metal bars from a dismantled trampoline before returning to the truck parking area and knocked on Mr Wasowicz’s truck door.

She said the jury would hear the truck drivers got out and a physical altercation ensued. Mr Pasztor and Mr Osail both ended up on the ground where, the prosecution alleges, they were hit with the iron bars by the accused after they had disarmed them.

Ms Lankford said the jury would hear gardaí were alerted at 10.15pm and officers arrived at the scene at 10.22pm where they found Mr Pasztor on the ground with a metal bar lying near him under a truck. The second metal bar was found in a field nearby.

She said the defence teams may say “that certain of these acts were carried out in self-defence” and “the State will have to deal with that.”

The case continues on Tuesday.