A Polish national who admitted killing his friend “in a moment of madness” while he was intoxicated, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Last March, Mariusz Jarosz (31) of Fitzherbert Wood, Navan pleaded not not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of David Mazur (25) at The Glebe, Cherryvalley, Rathmoylan in Co Meath on January 6th, 2011.
Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, told the Central Criminal Court the plea was acceptable to the State.
Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down a six-year sentence backdating it for time already spent is custody.
"On the evidence, how the death occurred was a mystery," the judge said. He said it would be “pure speculation” to say how it happened.
The court heard Mr Mazur, who worked as a kitchen porter but had done some acting in Poland, died from a single stab wound to the chest.
The events happened after a number of people were celebrating Little Christmas in the house. A number of Polish nationals were living in the house at the time, the court heard.
Det Sgt Mark Daly told Mr Grehan that no real explanation for the stabbing was given by Jarosz, who has two previous convictions. He said Jarosz, who was intoxicated at the time, claimed to have no memory of the event and the only witness was another Polish national.
When he was charged with murder he said: “No, because I don’t remember… I want to know why I got a charge of murder”.
The court heard road conditions were very icy that night but the ambulance arrived at 1.35am.
It brought Mr Mazur to Blanchardstown hospital but he was pronounced dead at 4.30am.
Gardaí from Trim Garda station arrived at the house at 2am where they met three foreign nationals.
They said the accused was intoxicated and it had been suggested that Mr Mazur had fallen on a knife while Jarosz was making sandwiches in the kitchen.
The court also heard Mr Mazur was making a documentary about Polish people in Ireland. Gardaí became aware one of the residents had taken photos of the injured man to use in the documentary, as they did not realise how serious his injuries were.
Michael O’ Higgins SC, for the defence, said his client’s instructions do not vary from what he told gardaí – that he had no recollection and that it was “a moment of madness”.
He said he “regrets it with all his heart”, was “extremely remorseful” and had instructed him to apologise on his behalf.
Under cross-examination, Det Sgt Daly told Mr O’Higgins agreed a witness said Jarosz had lent the deceased €500 towards the payment of a fine he had incurred from not transferring vehicle insurance. The court heard Jarosz said he needed the money for his son’s birthday.
Det Sgt Daly agreed with Mr O’Higgins that Jarosz came from south Poland to Ireland in 2005, had worked as a mechanic and got other people employment.
Mr O’Higgins said his client had two previous convictions – one for assaulting his former partner with whom he has a child and one for drink driving. He said there were two letters from the prison chaplain who wrote that Janos’s difficulties stem from the use of alcohol and that he will give up drinking from now on.
Last Monday a victim impact report was read to the court on the behalf of the deceased’s man’s brother Lukasz, who had travelled from Poland with his mother for the hearing.
Mr Mazur described the day they heard about his brother’s death as “the worst day of our lives”.
He added: “Time heals everything they say but it is not true…death takes away all of the colour of the world. Since that day our lives have fallen apart."
He told the court his grandmother is 95 and has still not been told about his brother’s death, as she is very frail.
He said a story they were originally told about his brother being impaled on a knife “seemed absurd from the beginning”.