THE KILLING of two Polish men in Dublin in 2008 with a screwdriver was an extraordinary act "of a speed and dreadful accuracy no one could have foreseen", counsel for one of the defendants told the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Patrick Gageby SC was giving his closing speech in the trial of two men charged with murdering Pawel Kalite (28) and Marius Szwajkos (27).
The two mechanics died after being stabbed with the screwdriver outside their home at Benbulben Road, Drimnagh, in February 2008.
David Curran (19), Lissadel Green, Drimnagh, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. Seán Keogh (21), Vincent Street West, Inchicore, has pleaded not guilty. He is being tried under the law of joint enterprise.
Defending Mr Keogh, Mr Gageby said his client had "some moronic, stupid, regretted participation" in what happened, but he had not encouraged Curran in what he had done.
Mr Keogh had admitted as Mr Kalite fell or had fallen that he had kicked him in the face, which was not a good thing to admit, but that was the end of his involvement - "one dreadful act". Afterwards he had been seen crying and sweating by another witness, who said he told her: "You would not believe what I am after doing, I am after making a mistake."
Curran had burned his runners and given a false alibi to gardaí, but he had not been callous, Mr Gageby said. He said there had been no plan to kill or seriously injure the men.
"This is a motley crew of rather hyper young people," he said. They were highly aroused and "mouthy" and if there had been any catalyst to Curran's actions, it had been the two girls and the other young man who were also present, counsel said.
Earlier, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending Curran, said all the evidence was against his client having planned the killing. He had received a phone call telling him his father had been stabbed and he had believed the two men had stabbed his father.
When he arrived on the scene, the two men were shouting and he believed one moved toward him. Curran "totally lost it" and stabbed the men in a state of totally lost control.
After the killings, Mr Ó Lideadha said, his client had behaved outrageously, but it was not unusual or shocking in itself for a young person to do wrong and want to get away with it, although it was a "shocking and disgusting case". He told the jury there was a lot of disgust and revulsion in the case, but they were not "a lynch mob".
Mr Justice Liam McKechnie told the jury of four men and eight women they could find Curran guilty of murder and if not, he would be guilty of manslaughter. The finding against Mr Keogh would either be one of guilty of murder or not guilty.
In the case of Curran, he said the jury should consider whether or not there had been provocation. He asked them to consider if the alleged shouting and movements of the two men could have triggered in Curran a "total loss of self-control".
In the case of Mr Keogh, he told the jurors they needed to decide if he had been part of a "common design" to assault the men and if so, had Curran's actions gone beyond the common design.
"If you come to the conclusion . . . that the attack with the screwdriver was outside the common design, then Mr Keogh is not guilty of murder," he said. He did not leave open the option of manslaughter. Mr Justice McKechnie will conclude his directions to the jury this morning.
