A FISHERMAN who killed a fellow countryman in a fight and threw his body over the side of a fishing trawler into Howth Harbour will be sentenced for manslaughter next week.
Mr Justice Paul Carney heard that Latvian Sergejs Lavrinovics (36) choked Igors Bondarenko in a "fight to the death" and threw his body overboard with the help of two co-accused, Andrijans Ubelis (32) and Freddy Grenzman (36).
Lavrinovics pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the manslaughter of the deceased and the other two defendants admitted aiding and abetting him on the Miraculousat Howth Harbour on a date between September 18th and October 4th, 2006. The three men had been living on the trawler at the time.
Det Sgt Gary Kelly told Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that the three men had no previous convictions, but the deceased had spent "most of his adult life in prison in Latvia".
Bondarenko was jailed in July 1990 for the rape of an underage female and for theft and hooliganism. He was released in 1994 but was returned to prison in 1995 to serve 11 years for robbery.
Det Sgt Kelly told the court that the victim then came to Ireland and worked on trawlers. But this did not last and he began to target eastern European men for extortion purposes.
The 35-year-old's body was found floating in Howth Harbour in late 2006 with a rope and chain tied to his ankle.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis carried out a postmortem and found high levels of alcohol in his blood. Dr Curtis initially thought Bondarenko had drowned but later determined he had been choked to death.
Det Sgt Kelly said the dead man had attempted and failed to get money from Lavrinovics and had become very angry. They then met at a friend's birthday party in September 2006 where they fought over a watch.
The deceased told Lavrinovics that he had had sex with his mother and made threats against his family.
Lavrinovics, who admitted his involvement in the killing when arrested for questioning, told gardaí that after the party the deceased had been looking for an opportunity to beat him up and arrived at his trawler on the night he died.
Erwin Mill Arden SC, defending, said the deceased arrived at his client's cabin armed with a metal fishing implement. Lavrinovics got up and scuffled with the deceased, throwing the implement overboard. Mr Mill Arden said his client felt it was, "either going to be him or the deceased" and they began a "fight to the death".
Lavrinovics told gardaí the victim repeated threats against his family and said he would break his sister's legs. Lavrinovics said he choked the deceased as he sat on top of him. He then smoked a cigarette to calm down and checked for a pulse. When he realised the victim was dead he decided to throw his body overboard as he was afraid he would be sent to prison in Latvia.
The two co-accused were downstairs in their bunks during the fight. Ubelis told gardaí that he heard the deceased threaten to kill Lavrinovics. The two men left after the fight but returned to help Lavrinovics to throw the body into the water.
Gardaí approached the three defendants after another eastern European man provided them with information following an arrest for drink-driving.
Defence counsel Luan Ó Braonáin SC said Grenzman was relieved when the truth came out and was glad the deceased would get a proper burial.
Mr Vaughan Buckley told the court that the deceased man's father was dead and that his mother had declined to come to Ireland or provide a victim impact statement.
Mr Justice Carney said he would sentence the men next Monday.