GARDAÍ IN Tralee have appealed for witnesses following a stabbing incident in the town on Saturday evening after which a 32-year-old Polish man, a father of four, died yesterday in hospital. A Holy Communion party had been taking place in the man’s house.
The incident occurred between 6.30pm and 7pm in the public roadway in the Racecourse Lawn suburb. It is understood an altercation took place in the roadway and the host of the party – whose adopted son had earlier received his First Holy Communion – was stabbed a number of times in the torso.
The initial altercation may have involved more than one person and a brick was thrown at the window of a car that was about to move off from the house, according to sources.
The victim, Michal Skotak, a Polish national, had been renting the Racecourse Lawn house for some years.
Two friends who were at the party, which was attended by a number of adults and children, brought the profusely bleeding man to Kerry General Hospital.
He underwent emergency surgery but his condition was described as critical and Mr Skotak died at 10.30am yesterday.
Racecourse Lawn residents spoke of their upset. Those neighbours who had been invited to the house earlier in the day said the party had centred on a wonderful array of Polish food, prepared mostly by Mr Skotak, and they described the deceased as a devoted family man.
They said he was a very fit man, who jogged every morning after dropping the children to school and said Mr Skotak was also a member of a gym in the town.
He had worked in north Kerry after moving to Ireland but of late had been a house husband. He had adopted the two children of his deceased sister – she and the children’s father were killed in a car crash in Poland, neighbours said – in order to rear them.
A number of Polish friends were at yesterday’s First Holy Communion party, but Irish neighbours were also invited, locals said.
“They were immaculate. They were such happy children – they woke me one morning walking past singing nursery rhymes,” said one resident in the area who did not wish to be named. She said she was very upset at the death.
It is understood Mr Skotak’s wife was living elsewhere for the past five or six weeks, but the couple shared the rearing of the children.
A postmortem was carried out at the hospital by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster.
Supt Pat Sullivan of Tralee Garda station said gardaí were appealing for witnesses and were asking people in the area between 6.30 and 7pm to contact them on 066 7122022.