A man on trial at the Central Criminal Court for fatally stabbing another has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Valerij Makarov (25), a Lithuanian, also known as Andris Simonis, Lucan, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Tomas Lukosevicious (30), on May 11th, 2003, in Lucan. He had also pleaded not guilty to causing intentional or reckless serious harm to Aldevinias Gudavicious (34), and to threatening to harm Jonas Bernotas (21).
The jury delivered a majority verdict of 11 to one yesterday after deliberating for nine hours and 28 minutes over two days.
Makarov was found guilty of causing harm, a charge lessened from causing serious harm, and found not guilty of threatening to harm. Mr Justice White remanded him on bail until sentencing on January 11th.
The court heard that on May 11th, 2003, Makarov spent the day at the zoo with his family and later went to a friend's house, where he began to receive a series of threatening phone calls on his mobile.
When he returned to his home in Lucan, a car in his driveway, belonging to his sister-in-law, had a cement block smashed through the windscreen and lights smashed.
"We all had a shock," he said. "If they can come in the middle of the day and break our lights, they could come in and kill us at night."
Makarov made three phone calls to local gardaí to report the incident, waiting in his home for them to arrive.
His wife left the house, looking for alternative accommodation for the family for the night. Makarov's two children and sister-in-law were in the home at the time of the incident.
The jury heard that at about 10 p.m., his front door was kicked in and a man confronted him in his kitchen, threatening him. Makarov said he was cornered in the kitchen and reached for a knife out of a drawer "just to pinch him, so he would feel pain and go away".
Mr Bernotas and Mr Gudavicious were outside the house and saw some of the incident through the window, when they also kicked in the door. An altercation ensued in the hallway, where Makarov was still holding the kitchen knife.
He had said he was trying to get the men away from his sister-in-law and child.
The court heard that one of the men slipped outside the house and the other ran off and was chased by Makarov to a neighbour's front gate. "I told him I would kill him if he came back to my house," he had said in a Garda interview viewed by the jury.
The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, told the court Mr Lukosevicious had bled to death from nine stab wounds.
Mr Gudavicious, who showed the scars of his stab wounds to the court, had received eight "lacerations". There was no evidence that his injuries caused a substantial risk of death.
Makarov said he had not realised a stabbing had occurred until "the garda told me one of them was dead". When he returned to his house, his sister-in-law had wiped up blood off the kitchen floor so the children would not see it. Traces of blood were also found in the hallway, front door and outside the house.
In the Garda interview, Makarov was asked: "In view of the fact that we have one person dead and one person seriously injured, do you have any remorse?"
"Of course I have remorse," Makarov replied. "These people have parents. They were not firemen or policemen, they did not die in the line of duty. It hurts me to find out that they came to another country to die."