The State has asked a jury to consider whether a murder accused’s statement to gardaí included “justification” or motive for an attack on a Croatian man. The remarks in question involved the accused saying it is “terrible the way the homeless are treated” while illegal immigrants “run amok”.
The prosecution barrister also told the Central Criminal Court on Thursday that Josip Strok (31) was repeatedly kicked in the head, punched, stamped on and beaten with “brutal ferocity” with a pickaxe handle while moving “defensively” on the ground.
One of the accused, described by his own counsel as a “young, gormless eejit”, struck the deceased three times with a crutch after he had stopped moving, the court also heard today.
Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, delivered his closing speech to the jury. He told them Mark Lee (44), Anthony Delappe (19) and Connor Rafferty (21) engaged in a joint enterprise to cause serious harm to the deceased Josip Strok (31).
RM Block
Defence counsels for Mr Rafferty and Mr Delappe warned the jury to be careful about convicting based on the “complex” legal concept of joint enterprise. They questioned the evidence for a “tacit agreement” between the accused.
Mark Lee, of no fixed abode, and Anthony Delappe of Melrose Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin, have both pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Josip Strok at Grangeview Way in Clondalkin on April 3rd, 2024.
Mr Rafferty of Castlegrange Close, Clondalkin, has pleaded not guilty to Mr Strok’s murder. All three have pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to David Druzinec (29) at the same location. It is alleged that the three accused assaulted Mr Druzinec and Mr Strok on March 30th, 2024, and that Mr Strok died four days later from blunt-force injuries sustained in the attack.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing told the jury of six men and six women that the deceased, a Croatian national, came to Ireland to work and contribute to society and “clearly did not deserve what happened to him”. On the night he died, he had been in Dublin city with a friend drinking on his day off over the Easter bank holiday Saturday.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the prosecution case is that all three accused engaged in a joint enterprise to cause serious harm to Mr Strok. Their “tacit agreement” formed shortly after two teenage boys told Mark Lee that Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec had beaten up a “child” at a nearby bus stop, counsel said.
About 20 minutes before the fatal assault, it was alleged that Mr Druzinec had assaulted a 17-year-old boy, causing Mr Strok to pull his friend away, counsel said. Two teenagers then passed on that information to Mr Lee, counsel said.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the joint enterprise to cause serious harm is evidenced by the manner in which each accused engaged, striking Mr Strok while he was on the ground. Counsel questioned Mr Rafferty’s claims in interview that he only wanted to give the two men “a lesson”.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing said Mr Lee revealed a possible motive for the assault some days later when gardaí arrived at his home with a search warrant.
Mr Lee told gardaí it was “terrible the way the homeless are treated” while illegal immigrants “run amok”. Counsel asked if this was a “justification he is putting forward, a motive as to why this was done”.
Mr Lee also told gardaí he had been “walking up and down” outside an asylum centre waiting on a “foreign c**t” over an attack on a child.
While Mr Ó Dúnlaing said communities have a right to protest over concerns regarding proper consultation and whether things are being done in the “right way”, he added: “There is a difference between protest and vigilante violence because you think a foreign national has assaulted two kids.”
Bernard Condon SC, for Mr Rafferty, said the height of the prosecution case against his client is manslaughter, not murder. Mr Rafferty did not intend to cause serious injury, so to return a verdict of guilty of murder would be unjust, counsel said.
While Mr Rafferty’s behaviour “does him no credit whatsoever” and showed him engaged in “colossal stupidity”, Mr Condon said the prosecution is trying to fix the actions of his co-accused onto the then 19-year-old.
The prosecution had not pointed to any injuries caused by the crutch and had failed to prove that Mr Rafferty inflicted anything more than “light strikes” on Mr Strok’s back, Mr Condon said.
Vincent Heneghan SC, for Mr Delappe, asked the jury to consider the speed with which things happened that night. Counsel said his client lied at the start of his interviews by denying all knowledge of the assault but then progressed to give a full, honest account.
Mr Heneghan said his client believed that some children had received a “battering” nearby and that informed his state of mind. Somebody handed the pickaxe handle to him and while he shouldn’t have used it, he did not go to that house with any intention to cause serious injury to anyone.
Michael Bowman SC will deliver the closing speech for Mr Lee tomorrow before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring and the jury.
