Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 31-year-old Croatian man who was attacked on a Dublin street last year and later died in hospital.
Mark Lee, aged 44, and of no fixed abode, and 19-year-old Anthony Delappe, from Melrose Avenue, in Clondalkin, had denied the charge, but both were found guilty last month of the murder of Josip Strok in March 2024.
A third man, 21-year-old Conor Rafferty, from Castlegrange Close in Clondalkin, was found not guilty of the murder.
All three pleaded guilty to assaulting the victim’s friend 29-year-old David Druzinec on the same date at the same location.
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Lee was sentenced to six years in prison and Delappe to three-and-a-half years in prison for the attack on Mr Druzinec.
Rafferty will be sentenced for the attack next week.
Four members of Mr Strok's family made victim impact statements, his mother Julie and his younger brother Ivan read them in person.
Ms Strok said her son's life ended before he had a chance to live it. "All my life I fought to keep pain away from them," she said.
"I hear him in my mind. He promised me nothing would ever happen to him. He felt guilty for things that had nothing to do with him," she added.
She described Josip as warm, loving, kind and there for others 24/7, saying he was a "big child with a great heart, proud of his siblings".
She said he bought a snow globe for his sister in Salzburg in Austria, the scene of the film The Sound of Music, when he was four or five years old, and everywhere he went afterwards he brought her back a snow globe. She now has over 100, she said.
Ms Strok said he had been taken from her "by force" when he was a child and was an alcoholic by 14 years of age but came back to them as soon as he became an adult.
She also read a card he sent her for Mother’s Day shortly before his murder, thanking her for all she had done for him. "I will try harder in future," he wrote, adding: "Love you loads."
She also said he came to Ireland to help someone else, but was supposed to start university and had passed his exams to study architecture, which was "the last big step to make a new happy full life".
Murder a 'brutal, cruel loss'
His brother Ivan described the murder of Josip as "a brutal, cruel loss" that has "left us in pieces".
"Joyous occasions will never feel right," he said.
"He was murdered alone. We are supposed to grow old with our siblings, raise our children side by side, all that has been taken away and since that morning, not a day passed without the reality creeping up," he said.
His sister Anja described Josip as her "best friend, partner in laughter and one of kindest souls I have known".
She said he was standing by a friend the night he died, who had "put him in harm's way".
"Somebody he trusted brought chaos into a situation that night and he paid a price for someone else’s reckless actions," she said.
"The accused made choices that night with no regard for human life and my brother paid the price," she said.
His other sister Nika said they keep expecting Josip to walk in, but he has left "a hole in all of us that’s never going to fill".
Lee's views ugly, ill-informed, court hears
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said the court could not overlook the nature of the views expressed by Lee on 1 April to gardaí, describing his views as ugly, ill-informed and discriminatory.
"He had followers and supporters for these hostile and ignorant views," she said.
His reference to "foreign" included everyone, including visitors.
However, she pointed out that as Croatians, Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec are fellow Europeans, availing of rights to live here and travel, like many Irish also do.
Many here are of "incredible value to country", she said.
She also noted that "neither Lee nor Delappe were working", while the men they attacked had jobs and were contributing to society.
"They were as entitled to be here as those two and sadly had more to offer Irish society," she said.
She also referred to random aggression and violence on the streets as an assault on the social contract of mutual respect.
"At no time during the proceedings did Mark Lee express his remorse," she said, and that he has now sent a letter of apology.
What happened on 30 March 2024
Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec had been drinking all day on 30 March 2024 when they met a 17-year-old boy at a bus stop in Clondalkin and asked him for a lighter.
Mr Druzinec, the court was told, would not accept that the boy had no lighter and began to mock the teenager before attacking him and dragging him into the street.
Mr Strok dragged his friend away and they waited for the next bus to Mr Druzinec's home.
The 17-year-old stopped to tell three other teenagers to be careful, that he had been attacked by the two men at the bus stop.
The three youths then boarded the same bus as Mr Druzinec and Mr Strok and got off at the same stop near the Grange View estate.
Once in the estate, the youths spoke to Lee who was out walking his dogs.
Lee had strong views on people he called foreign "invaders". His social media account name was 'anti anti Irish."
"I'm not homophobic myself but I am racist, I'm not afraid to say it," he said online, "only for certain groups in this country, the Government made me like that".
Lee walked his dogs around Clondalkin "to keep an eye on the immigrants" and left a previous job because the preparation of Halal food made his blood boil.
He complained to gardaí when they searched his home that "illegal immigrants were attacking kids in town and none of them charged" and that the "Irish were living on the streets, cos they can’t get a place because of the invaders".
"Illegal immigrants are running amok in this country," he said. He also expressed anti-muslim and anti-LGBTQ sentiments.
He was also involved in anti-migrant protests at a building in Clondalkin.
When Lee heard that night that a young lad had been beaten up, Lee followed Mr Druzinec and Mr Strok, who were now speaking loudly in Croatian, before heading into his own home to drop off the dogs.
Lee emerged from his house less than 50 seconds later, followed by Delappe, who was one week past his 18th birthday and had been in Lee's house to smoke cannabis.
A CCTV system with audio capability recorded Mr Strok rebuking his friend as they walked along, unaware that Lee and Delappe were a short distance behind, preparing to attack.
Plastic pickaxe handle
Delappe was carrying a hard plastic pickaxe handle.
A Croatian translator interpreted Mr Strok, referring to the earlier row at the bus stop, saying: "You're a completely different person when you drink. For God's sake, dude!"
Delappe and Lee walked fast after Mr Druzinec and Mr Strok and were followed about 40 seconds later by Rafferty, who had also been in Lee's house smoking cannabis.
Rafferty, aged 19 at the time, was carrying half a crutch.
Lee and Delappe caught up with their victims and attacked them.
Delappe hit Mr Druzinec while Lee knocked Mr Strok to the ground. Lee continued the beating and kicked Mr Strok in the head a number of times as well as stamping on him and punching him.
At one stage he was holding him with one hand and hitting him with the other.
Delappe left Mr Druzinec and joined in on Mr Strok, hitting him several times at full force with the pickaxe handle while Mr Strok struggled on the ground.
After Mr Strok stopped moving Rafferty struck him three blows with the half-crutch he had brought from Lee's house.
Rafferty would later tell gardaí that he had only inflicted two or three "light smacks" on Mr Strok's back and had not intended to cause him harm.
He also told them he did not mean to seriously injure anyone, apologised and said he was ashamed.
The jury accepted Rafferty's defence and found him not guilty of murder.
Mr Druzinec suffered bruising to his face and required stitches but made a full recovery.
Mr Strok had suffered one particularly severe wound to the back of his head which caused fracturing of the skull and a catastrophic brain injury.
He was pronounced dead in hospital four days later.
