A LITHUANIAN national who fatally stabbed a Latvian man in Swords, Co Dublin, last year has been jailed for life by the Central Criminal Court after a jury found him guilty of murder.
Mantas Pauliukonis had denied murdering Alesandrs Filusins by stabbing him in the thigh, severing his femoral artery, following a row at a "Russian" disco.
The jury of six men and six women spent five hours and 19 minutes over two days considering its majority verdict of 10 to two. It also convicted Pauliukonis (25), Park West Crescent, Clondalkin, of assaulting another man, Sergej Cuksejev, outside the disco at Taylor's public house.
The court heard during the seven-day trial the deceased was a 28-year-old married man with two young children. His family had remained in Riga and he worked six days a week here as a farm labourer to send money back.
In the early hours of Sunday, June 3rd, 2007, Mr Filusins was followed by Pauliukonis after he had intervened in a fight outside the disco, injuring Pauliukonis's uncle.
Pauliukonis, with two others, had followed the deceased in a car and chased him into the back garden of a house on Oaklands Avenue, Swords. There Mr Filusins was stabbed a number of times in the legs. He died later in hospital from massive blood loss.
Mr Justice George Birmingham thanked the jury for its service and imposed a mandatory life sentence on Pauliukonis. He will sentence the defendant on November 17th in relation to the assault charge.
The jury heard Pauliukonis bragged about the killing to a security man at Taylor's public house in Swords shortly after the incident. He had said "at least we got him . . . we stabbed him up".
Pauliukonis was at the disco that night with friends and his uncle. As they were leaving in the early hours, Mr Cuksejev, who did not know Pauliukonis, got into the defendant's car looking for a lift.
Pauliukonis and his friends removed Mr Cuksejev from the vehicle and attacked him. The deceased intervened to protect Mr Cuksejev and threw a punch which hit Pauliukonis's uncle, knocking out two teeth.
Evidence was heard that Pauliukonis became so incensed he pulled out a knife. Mr Filusins left the scene but was followed in a car by Pauliukonis and two others.
A resident at Oaklands Avenue heard men shouting in a foreign language and saw three men leaving his garden. He then found Mr Filusins bleeding heavily at his back door. The deceased's femoral artery had been severed.
Mr Filusins was taken to hospital and operated on but died as a result of massive blood loss.