The killers of a 27-year-old Polish man kicked and beat him to death on his way to work ‘for a buzz’, the Central Criminal Court heard today.
Lukasz Rzeszutko was found outside his workplace in north Dublin on October 2nd, 2010 with brain tissue protruding from his nose; his boss and colleague did not recognise him.
He died in hospital two days later of severe brain damage inflicted by three Dublin men.
Martin Morgan (21) of Tonlegee Road, Raheny faces life in prison for his murder, after the court heard he ‘danced’ on the victim’s head outside Kish Fish in the Newtown Industrial Estate in Coolock, where his two brothers also worked.
A jury unanimously convicted him of murder earlier this month, after he pleaded not guilty to his murder but guilty to his manslaughter.
Morgan’s cousin, Edward Byrne (21) of Cabra Park, Cabra; and Stephen Byrne (18) of St Donagh’s Road, Donaghmede will be sentenced for Mr Rzeszutko’s manslaughter after the DPP accepted their pleas of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
A sentencing hearing heard today that Stephen Byrne said they saw the man coming and came up with the plan ‘to give him a few slaps’.
He told gardaí that Morgan had come up with the plan and that he had said: ‘Why not?’
He said Morgan grabbed him by his backpack and knocked him to the ground and that the victim was screaming while the three of them kicked him.
“Eddie and Martin went to town on him,” he said, adding that: “He was ok until Martin stood on his head.”
He said it was horrible when “Martin started to dance on his head”.
He said they didn’t do it for robbery.
“We just done it for a buzz,” he said. “But it just got out of hand.”
He said he felt sick when he was told that Mr Rzeszutko was dead.
The court heard that Edward Byrne was both on bail and on temporary release from prison when he killed Mr Rzeszutko.
He has 55 previous convictions including for threatening to kill or seriously harm his mother, breach of a protection order, possession of knives, robbery and throwing drugs over the wall of Mountjoy prison.
He made his admissions to gardaí after pretending to his friends he had been arrested so he wouldn’t be seen as a rat.
He first gave the names of people who were not there before admitting that he was involved. He said that he was the last to join in the attack, going over the help the others when he saw that Mr Rzeszutko was fighting back.
He said he could have kicked him in the side of the head and that they stopped only because his girlfriend screamed at them to stop.
“We shouldn’t have done it in front of her anyway,” he said. He said they ‘legged it’ when they saw blood coming out of his ears.
The court already heard that Morgan denied all involvement in the killing when arrested. However the victim’s blood was found on his runners and forensic experts told the court that it was in a pattern consistent with stamping or kicking the victim’s head.
Mr Rzeszutko’s family was not in court yesterday but his mother, Grazyna Rzeszutko, had written a victim impact statement, which was read aloud.
She said she had tried many times to put into words how her son’s death and had affected her, but couldn’t describe the emotions that affected her daily.
“My life will never be the same,” she wrote. “The pain never gets easier. A piece of me will be missing the rest of my entire life.”
She said she missed her son so much that she felt she’d lost a physical part of her.
“Lukasz came to Ireland to improve his life and fulfil his dreams,” she continued. “I can’t understand what kind of human being Morgan must be to take his life away in such a cruel way.”
Mr Justice Barry White adjourned imposing all three sentences until Friday when Morgan will receive the mandatory life sentence for murder.