A 21-year-old who was acquitted of the murder of Josip Strok has received a fully suspended four-year sentence for assaulting the Croatian man's friend.
Connor Rafferty of Castlegrange Close, Clondalkin in Dublin, had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to David Druzinec in March 2024.
Last month a jury found Rafferty not guilty of the murder of Mr Druzinec’s friend Josip Strok but convicted two other men, Mark Lee, of no fixed abode, and Anthony Delappe, from Melrose Avenue, in Clondalkin.
Nineteen-year-old Delappe and 44-year-old Lee are serving life sentences for murdering the 31-year-old after attacking him on a Dublin street
Sentencing Rafferty today, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said before looking at mitigating factors the suitable sentence was six years.
Ms Justice Ring said she was taking into account his guilty pleas, admissions to gardaí, his remorse and the changes he has made in this life including embarking on an apprenticeship.
She imposed a sentence of four years and fully suspended it allowing Rafferty to walk free from court today.
But Rafferty was warned of strict conditions attached to the suspended sentence.
The judge said: "If someone says only a bit of hash or cocaine, you have to decide if it is worth four years in prison."
During the murder trial the prosecution said Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec were assaulted by Lee, Delappe and Rafferty after they were told the Croatian men had attacked a 17-year-old boy at a nearby bus stop.
Mr Strok was repeatedly kicked in the head, punched, stamped on and beaten.
Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, for the prosecution, said in his opening speech that the accused knew Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec were foreign nationals and that had "relevance in the case".
