Two men have been found guilty of murdering a 23-year-old Polish man by beating him unconscious and leaving him to drown in the River Shannon.
Patryk Krupa drowned in the Shannon outside Athlone while incapacitated with a head injury from a violent assault on 20 June, 2014.
Leszek Sychulec, 34, a Polish national with an address at Drinan, Ballymahon, Co Longford, and Andrzej Gruchacz, 35, with an address in Warsaw, Poland had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Krupa at Bogganfin, Athlone, Co Roscommon.
The Central Criminal Court trial heard that Mr Krupa had been walking to the gym with his two friends, when a black BMW stopped beside them and two men got out.
One of these men headbutted one of Mr Krupa's friends and soon after Mr Krupa disappeared down an alley with the men from the BMW.
The trial heard that the friends were concerned as they knew that Mr Krupa owed some money to a man.
The court also heard from a witness, Kuba Zmuda, who said that he had been instructed by the two men in the BMW to find Mr Krupa.
He said he was in the front passenger seat when the two men took their victim off Church Street in Athlone.
He said the men beat Mr Krupa in the back seat of the car as they were driven by another man to the banks of the Shannon.
Mr Zmuda said that Mr Krupa was crying “I pay'” as they continued to beat him there, before dragging him to the river.
The court heard that he was unconscious but alive when thrown in the water. Some of his bruising was consistent with him having been stamped on.
When Sychulec was later arrested, Mr Krupa's DNA was found in blood on his watch and sock.
Meanwhile, eye witness descriptions of the other man involved matched that of Gruchacz.
The jury four women and eight men deliberated for five hours before reaching unanimous verdicts on all counts.
Mr Krupa's family embraced each other afterwards. The sentence hearing will be held at a later date.
