Source: Richard Woffenden

A MAN WHO had blood on his hands when he confessed to stabbing a man to death has been jailed today for six years.

Andrzej Wawrzyniak (38) stabbed 44-year-old Jacek Kozakiewicz 22 times during a drunken row inside a squat both men were sharing in Dublin.

Wawrzyniak, a Polish man of no fixed abode, had originally been charged with murder but was convicted of Kozakiewicz’s manslaughter following a trial earlier this year.

He had pleaded not guilty to murdering Kozakiewicz at the former Vallance and McGrath pub on Dublin’s North Wall Quay on 26 February 2014.

At a sentencing hearing today at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Robert Eagar said the accused and the deceased, who was also Polish, had been living in an abandoned public house along with other Polish nationals.

Mr Justice Eagar said life in the squat had “revolved around drinking”.

On the date in question, an argument broke out between the accused and the deceased, during which Kozakiewicz suffered 22 stab wounds – six of which were to his neck.

Alcohol

The judge added that alcohol had been the “reason for being” for the residents of the squat and that it was a “bleak state of affairs”.

Describing the events which took place immediately after Wawrzyniak stabbed Kozakiewicz, Justice Eagar said the accused had fled the squat and then told a Luas driver at the nearby Point depot to “get the guards, I’m after killing someone”.

In previous evidence given to the court, Sergeant John Grady said that on the night of the killing, a Luas driver at the Point Depot stop became alarmed when he saw blood on Wawrzyniak’s hands so he tried to prevent him getting on board the tram.

Wawrzyniak then led gardaí to the squat, the sergeant said, where they found three people. One of them, Filip Talaj, appeared injured and he told the gardaí that Wawrzyniak had attacked him with a knife.

The court heard that Jacek’s body was found lying on the floor of a makeshift kitchen with more than 20 stab wounds, most of which were to the neck and face.

The sergeant told the court that during interviews Wawrzyniak said that Jacek had grabbed his throat and punched him in the face. They were grappling on the floor when he saw a knife, grabbed it and stabbed Jacek, the court heard.

Wawrzyniak has two previous convictions, from 2014, for Public Order offences.

Sentence

A victim impact statement, written by the deceased man’s mother, who could not travel to Ireland to attend the hearing, was read to the court by prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane SC.

“My heart is bleeding,” she wrote, “broken into a thousand little pieces.”

I raised Jacek myself. I sacrificed my youth for him and his brother.

I am still having nightmares.

Sentencing Wawrzyniak to six years’ imprisonment, with one year suspended, Mr Justice Eagar said that the normal sentence for such a violent killing would be nine years.

However, the judge said the fact the accused had asked the Luas driver to call gardaí and that he had later impressed prison authorities with his willingness to help other inmates were both mitigating factors in this case.

Wawryzniak was also jailed for three-and-half years after he admitted to assaulting Filip Talaj inside the squat on the same date.

Both sentences will run concurrently.