There remains an “air of mystery” about the violent death of a homeless man who was stabbed 62 times before his body was dumped in the gateway of a country lane, a High Court judge said on Monday.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt sentenced Sebastian Barczuk (32) to life imprisonment after he was last month found guilty of murdering his former flatmate Michal Kurek. The judge commented that being stabbed over 60 times and left in a ditch was no way for anyone’s life to end.
Prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC also told the Central Criminal Court that Mr Kurek was known as “Miszczu”, which is Polish for “Master”, due to his high level of intelligence.
Barczuk, with an address at Briarwood Lawn, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 was convicted last month by a 11-1 majority jury verdict of murdering his homeless friend Mr Kurek (33) at a place unknown within the State between August 3rd and 4th, 2017. He had pleaded not guilty to his murder.
The jury rejected Barczuk’s defence that the State had presented “less than half a story” and could not say when, where, why or how his homeless friend was killed.
It was the defence contention that the prosecution was unable to point to a motive between the accused man and deceased, which they described as one of the biggest mysteries in the case as both were “like brothers” to each other.
Instead the jury accepted the State’s case that the defendant was “a proven and admitted liar” who was “kite-flying” when he was initially interviewed by detectives before becoming a suspect in the case.
In his closing speech, prosecution counsel Mr Staines asked the jurors to be very careful before they accepted the defendant’s narrative and “self-serving assertions”, which he said were used to “throw gardaí off the scent”.
Mr Kurek, a homeless man with addiction difficulties, was found lying facedown in the gateway of a country lane in Ballyboughal with 62 stab wounds to his body, including 25 knife wounds to his back on the morning of August 4th.
A Nokia 105 mobile phone was located in the right-hand pocket of the deceased’s jeans in the country lane and the handset was still powered on.
At today’s sentence hearing, Detective Garda Ross Rowan told prosecution counsel Mr Staines that Mr Kurek was a homeless person with a significant addiction.
The witness agreed that Mr Kurek was known as “Miszczu”, which is Polish for “Master”, due to his high level of intelligence.
Barczuk had described Mr Kurek as being like his brother and no motive for the killing had been established, said Det Gda Rowan. The court also heard that Barczuk has no previous convictions.
Mr Staines said that no victim statement had been furnished by the Kurek family on behalf of the deceased.
Mr Justice Hunt sentenced Barczuk to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering Mr Kurek. The sentence was backdated to April 6th 2018, when he went into custody.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hunt said this was a “very sad case”, where Mr Kurek had died in a foreign country. “He appears to have been a likeable person during his life but had a difficult life in some aspects,” said the judge.
Mr Justice Hunt highlighted that there was “an air of mystery” about the motive for Mr Kurek’s “violent death”.
“It is no way for anyone’s life to end being stabbed to death with over 60 wounds and left in a ditch in the way he was,” he said.
The judge noted that it was tragic for Mr Kurek’s family for the deceased to die in this way and he extended his sympathy to them on their loss. He also complimented the gardaí on the investigation.
Mr Justice Hunt said in his view the evidence “pointed” in one direction and the accused had told gardaí that he was not at the scene, which was contrary to the evidence.
Dominic McGinn SC, defence counsel for Barczuk, said his client had cooperated with gardaí by making himself available to give statements and returned voluntarily to Ireland after travelling to Poland for Christmas whilst the investigation was still ongoing.
Evidence was given that a cyclist discovered the deceased’s body lying next to a gateway in the Grange area of Ballyboughal on the morning of August 4th.
Former Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis testified that the Polish national died from “multiple stab wounds and with a contributory factor of blunt-force trauma to the head and chest”.
The trial heard that the lower amount of DNA in a mixed profile taken from Mr Kurek’s Nokia phone matched the DNA of the accused man.
The defendant’s phone made a data connection at a cell site near Ballyboughal in north county Dublin at 00.53 and 00.55 on the morning Mr Kurek’s body was discovered, while the deceased’s phone also used a cell site at Ballyboughal at 00.47 and 00.52 on the same morning.
The jury had viewed a montage of CCTV footage of a blue Fiat Punto travelling from the Clonsilla Inn at 9.18pm on August 3rd, through Lispopple Cross in Co Dublin at 00.19 and past Drishogue in Oldtown, Co Dublin at 00.56 on the morning of August 4th.
Ms Ewa Raczka testified that on August 2nd, 2017 — two days before the discovery of Mr Kurek’s body — she sold Barczuk a Fiat Punto.
It was the prosecution case that when one married the CCTV footage of the Fiat Punto being in north Co Dublin on the night with the cell site analysis then the jury was entitled to draw an inference that the accused had murdered his friend.
Counsel for the State Mr Staines asked the jury to consider “when coincidence is placed on top of coincidence when does it become an affront to your common sense”.