The family of a Polish carpenter who was stabbed to death in Dublin last Friday has made an emotional appeal for anyone with information relating to his death to come forward.
Renata Gedzior, speaking on behalf of her family, and seated beside her mother Kuzimiere at yesterday's press briefing, described the devastation which the death of her brother, Richard Kwaitkowski (33), had caused everyone who knew him.
She said her brother was "the guy who was trying to help his family back home". He was also known as the joker in the family, and had been due to fly back to his native Krakow for his seven-year-old daughter's First Communion.
"He left his fiancee, they were going to get married, his daughter is receiving First Communion next week. This Friday he was supposed to come home, he had already a ticket," she said.
"Yesterday I spoke to his fiancee . . . it was very hard for her to say it [ to his daughter] that her father wouldn't be coming for her First Communion."
Ms Gedzior said her brother had been very happy the last time she had spoken to him in April.
"He was happy he knew he was going home soon . . . He spoke to my mom two weeks ago and the same thing, he was asking what she wants, and things like this," she said.
"As we were coming here, we were saying, me and my mom, and even my husband back at home, that maybe this is not true because we didn't see him yet.
"Maybe someone brought some document . . . pretending that it's him, but when we went there yesterday with my mom and saw his face we knew it was no mistake."
Ms Gedzior, who lives in the US, said her mother now lives alone in Krakow following the death of her husband a few years ago and her own mother last year.
Mr Kwaitkowski, who worked in Dún Laoghaire, died following an altercation at Rathlin House, Waterville, Blanchardstown, Dublin, at about 9pm on Friday.
He had been working in Ireland for two years, and also had a 10-year-old son from a previous relationship.
A number of people were arrested and later released. A file in relation to one of these, a male, is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Garda Supt Gabriel McIntyre, who is investigating the case, said he was anxious for anyone who may have information relating to Mr Kwaitkowski's death - in particular those from the Polish and Slovakian communities - to come forward.
Ms Gedzior said they could have been somewhat prepared if someone was sick or was in a car accident, but the circumstances of her brother's death had made it "devastating for everybody."
Echoing Supt McIntyre's appeal, she thanked gardaí for the support they had shown her family and said her mother only wished to see "the place where he took his last breath," before she leaves the country today.
"If you know what contributed to this argument, I guess this was an argument between two men, come forward and let the police know," she said.
"When she [her mother] called me on Monday I just couldn't believe it . . . I actually had to have some medical help, because I was just devastated."