Teenager found guilty of murder of German student

A 17-year-old Dublin youth has been convicted of murdering a German student and injuring another in the city.

Thomas Heinrich (22) and Robert Rinker (23) were stabbed on St Anthony’s Road in Rialto on December 1st, 2012.

Mr Rinker, who is now 25, survived but Mr Heinrich died.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Mr Heinrich and to assault causing harm to Mr Rinker.

But the jury found him guilty of both charges by unanimous decision yesterday after almost eight hours of deliberations over three days.

Wesley Kelly (20) of St Anthony’s Road had also denied both charges but was found guilty of assault causing harm to Mr Rinker by a majority verdict of 11-1.

The jury has not yet reached a decision on the murder charge against Mr Kelly and will resume their deliberations in relation to that count on tuesday.

It was the State’s case that both accused had gone looking for a fight and were being prosecuted on the basis of joint enterprise.

The 17-year-old said he was walking past the apartments in the early hours of the morning when someone threw a can of beer at him.

The court heard he went to get Mr Kelly, telling him he had been attacked.

The accused both told gardaí in interviews that they were acting in self-defence.

The court heard Mr Rinker brought two knives to the scene and Mr Heinrich brought one.

Mr Rinker, who is from Stuttgart, gave evidence that he met Mr Heinrich on his first day at Griffith College, Dublin. They were studying there for a number of months as part of their courses in Germany.