A NUMBER of witnesses told a Dublin murder trial that they saw or heard two Polish mechanics being killed outside their Dublin home.
Pawel Kalite (29) and Marius Szwajkos (27) sustained stab wounds to their brains on February 23th, 2008, on Benbulben Road, Drimnagh.
David Curran (19) of Lissadel Green, Drimnagh, has pleaded not guilty to their murder but guilty to their manslaughter. His 21-year-old co-accused, Seán Keogh, of Vincent Street West, Inchicore, pleaded not guilty to the double murder.
Jonathon Daleo told the Central Criminal Court that he was fixing his car in front of his house on Benbulben Road that evening when a girl and a couple of teenage boys passed. “The girl was crying. He was annoyed,” he recalled. “He said: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get him’ or ‘We’ll sort him out’ or something.”
The teenagers passed back a few minutes later. “I seen a few people running out the road and there was a scuffle,” said Mr Daleo. “I seen someone struck. I seen someone fall,” he said. “He was taken off in the ambulance.”
He confirmed to Giolliaosa Ó Lidheadha SC, defending David Curran, that he told gardaí the teenage boy said: “He won’t get away with it” or “I’ll do something about it”.
Terry Kelly was walking down Benbulben Road that evening when she saw a group of adults standing outside the butcher’s shop and sensed that something was wrong. “I just knew something had happened,” she said. “I looked up the road. I saw a group of lads fighting.”
She said she saw punches and kicks, but no weapons. “I just heard the man falling to the ground,” she said. She walked to where he had fallen and spoke to a Polish woman. “I could see there were two men lying on the ground,” she said. “The two guys were unconscious.”
She considered giving first aid but was afraid to move them in case she did more damage so she assured the Polish woman that an ambulance was on its way. She left when it arrived.
Marian Corr was at the butcher’s shop when some boys and girls passed in the direction of the Marble Arch pub. “The girl was crying. Someone was shouting: ‘I’m going to get you’ or something,” she said. “It seemed to be serious,” she continued. “I knew something was after happening.”
She said a group of five or six people then rushed past her from the pub direction. “As they ran past I knew one of them had something in his hand. I think he had a dark hoodie. He was very aggressive,” she explained and that he yelled out: “Is that them?” She said he ran at a parked car and banged on it before the group continued on to a house.
“There seemed to be a scuffle going on,” she said. She rang gardaí.
Mr Ó Lidheadha told Ms Corr that his client accepted it was he who was shouting around the parked car. “He told me he, shortly beforehand, got a phone call and was told that his father had been stabbed,” he said, and asked her if she had heard this shouted. She had not.
She agreed she told detectives: “This fella in the hoodie seemed to be out of control and was shouting ‘Where are they? Where are they?’”
A teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, gave evidence by video link that he was walking down Benbulben Road that evening. The boy questioned why he had to hold the Bible before taking the oath. Mr Justice Liam McKechnie asked him if he was sure he had it in his hand. “Why?” he asked. “Because you have to,” replied the judge.
The boy told John O’Kelly SC, prosecuting, that he saw a lot of people running that evening and that they scattered. “I was a bit drunk,” he replied when asked for more detail. “I ran myself.”
Mr O’Kelly asked him if he had made a statement to gardaí. “I think so but I’m not sure what it was. Do you get me?” he replied.
The teenager was asked to return to court on Monday. “Why? This is my seventh poxy time to come to this court,” he complained. He eventually agreed to return on Monday.