Two arrested over fatal stabbing of brother of double murderer

Paul Curran (24) died in St James’s Hospital following incident in Crumlin

Seagull House in  Rutland Ave  where a man was fatally stabbed on Saturday. Photograph: Aidan Crawley/The  Irish Times
Seagull House in Rutland Ave where a man was fatally stabbed on Saturday. Photograph: Aidan Crawley/The Irish Times

Gardaí investigating the fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old man in Dublin on Saturday have arrested two people.

Paul Curran died from injuries sustained in a stabbing incident at Seagull House, Ruthland Avenue, in Crumlin.

Gardaí were called to the property at about 4pm and discovered Mr Curran with serious injuries. The emergency services were notified and Mr Curran was brought to St James’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

The scene at  Seagull House in Rutland Ave where a man was fatally stabbed on Saturday. Photograph: Aidan Crawley/The Irish Times
The scene at Seagull House in Rutland Ave where a man was fatally stabbed on Saturday. Photograph: Aidan Crawley/The Irish Times

Detectives investigating the incident arrested an 18-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman late on Saturday night.

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They are being held at Crumlin and Sundrive Road Garda Stations under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

A postmortem is expected to take place on Mr Curran’s body on Sunday.

Mr Curran is a brother of David Curran (25) who is currently serving two life sentences for the murder of two Polish mechanics eight years ago.

David Curran murdered Pawel Kalite (28) and Marius Szwaijkos (27) outside their home on Benbulben Road, Drimnagh, on February 23rd, 2008.

The two men died when they left their home to confront Curran and other youths who had arrived outside following an earlier row with Mr Kalite outside a local chip shop.

Curran claimed that he spent the day drinking alcohol and taking drugs with other teenagers.

‘Profoundly sinister’

Following the row at the chip shop, Mr Kalite returned home and told his flatmates what had happened.

They wanted him to stay indoors but he walked outside shortly before 6.45pm as the five teenagers came running towards the house. Curran had a screwdriver that he found in a moped he had stolen earlier.

Kamila Szeremata said she was standing beside Mr Kalite as David Curran swung at her with the screw driver, that she ducked, and he stabbed Mr Kalite in the head.

The other youth told gardaí that he kicked Mr Kalite in his face as he fell. Within seconds, Curran stabbed Marius Szwajkos, also in the head, as he moved towards his fallen friend.

The five teenagers fled, leaving Ms Szeremata and her brother Radek with the victims, who never regained consciousness and died in hospital within days.

The state pathologist explained that Mr Kalite sustained two stab wounds to his left temple, one which penetrated his skull and did irreparable damage to his brain. He also had broken teeth.

Dr Marie Cassidy said Mr Swajkos was stabbed through the left temple, skull and brain. He also had a fracture to the right side of his skull, consistent with falling to the ground after being stabbed.

During sentencing, Mr Justice Liam McKechnie said the murders had occurred after “an incident of almost meaningless consequence”.

The men had not even been involved in a scuffle with Curran, he said. There was something “profoundly sinister” not only in what Curran did, but in how he did it.

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter