Dublin: Drimnagh Man David Curran 19 Found Guilty Of Double Murder: UPDATED

 

DRIMNAGH MAN DAVID CURRAN 19 FOUND GUILTY OF DOUBLE MURDER:

AN eerie silence in courtroom 19 of the Central Criminal Court was only broken by cries of relief.

The chilling three-and-half-week murder trial of two Dublin youths for the brutal stabbing to death of two Polish men had come to an emotional end.

Relatives of both the accused and the dead men sat on opposite sides of the courtroom.

For the family of victim Pawel Kalite there were tears as the jury found David Curran, 19, guilty of the double murder of the Polish mechanic and his friend, Marius Szwajkos.

A shocked court had heard how Curran used a screwdriver to stab both men through the head.

For the family of Curran’s co-accused, Sean Keogh, 21, there were tears of relief as he was found not guilty on both murder counts.

The jury of eight women and four men took nearly six hours to make their decision, finding Curran guilty of murdering Mr Kalite by a unanimous verdict and guilty of murdering Mr Szwajkos by an 11 to one majority.

Mr Kalite’s sister, Agnieszka, buried her head in her hands and wept as the verdict was delivered. Her brother’s killer, Curran, looked unmoved initially and simply stared straight ahead. Then his dark eyes silently swelled up with tears and his barrister comforted him. The red-haired youth’s family were nowhere to be seen.

The court had heard dramatic evidence of the hours leading up to the fatal Saturday night in February 2008, when a fight outside a Drimnagh chipper led to the deaths of the Polish men.

Curran himself said that after a day of bingeing on drink and drugs with other youths, the then 17-year-old had been "out of his head". He claimed he lost control after wrongly believing his father was stabbed that night in an earlier row with Mr Kalite.

During the last two days, with the deciding jury coming in and out of court, Curran and his co-accused, Keogh, never spoke or looked at each other.

In the Garda inquiry, Curran had initially denied any role in the attack and put the blame on Keogh.

Keogh, while found not guilty of the murders, faces a sentence over assault later this month after admitting he kicked Mr Kalite in the head as he fell to the ground on the night.

But for the families of the dead Polish men, there was no comfort. Mr Kalite’s sister said she was too upset to speak. Other relatives of the men were unable to attend court because of travel restrictions due to the volcanic ash cloud.

Curran will today be sentenced for the double murder and could face more years than his current age behind bars.

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UPDATE:

A 19-year-old Dublin man has been jailed for life for what was described by a judge as the brutal, savage and sadistic murder of two Polish men in Drimnagh in 2008.

Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos were stabbed to death outside their home in Drimnagh in February 2008.

Mr Justice Liam McKechnie said there was something profoundly sinister about the way David Curran, of Lissadel Green in Drimnagh, had killed the men with ‘lethal accuracy’ when he stabbed them through their skulls with a screwdriver.

The judge said it left a chilling feeling as to what kind of man could do this and he said he did not hesitate to agree with yesterday’s jury verdict of murder.

Victim impact statements were delivered on behalf of the families of both men by their former employer Alan Kennedy.

The families described their continuing sense of loss and pain following the murders.

Both men were described as hard working and quiet that had come to Ireland to realise their dreams. They had planned to return to Poland.

UPDATE:

WITH a drug addiction and a criminal record by the age of 16, David Curran was an early starter on the road to crime. The ruthless Drimnagh man was just 17 years old by the time he stabbed Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos to death in an unprovoked attack.

By then, the teenager was already well acquainted with crime, having received two convictions for driving offences. In fact, just three days before he murdered two men, he was convicted of driving without insurance and a licence, and of failing to produce both in a garda station. The following day, February 21, 2008, he became the victim of a stab attack which necessitated stitches to his back.

Born on Bloomsday, June 16, 1990, Curran grew up in Lissadel Green in Drimnagh, where he lived with his parents, three younger brothers and a sister.

His path through the education system was a rocky one, peppered with several suspensions from school. He was eventually expelled.

He turned to a life of crime early on, ending up in the Children’s Court on a number of occasions. Gardai were also aware that he was involved in minor larceny including the theft of cars. He often carried a screwdriver when attempting to find something to steal to feed his burgeoning drug habit.

Despite his extra-curricular criminal activities, he did manage to secure some qualifications through a course with FAS.

Alas, in the meantime he was also dabbling heavily in cannabis and alcohol. His problem with drugs first became apparent in November 2006 when he presented at the Ciall Youth Project seeking treatment for addiction. He was put on a 12-week counselling course, but just two months later he was back seeking help again. And in January 2008 he made a third attempt to clean himself up. By then, his choice of drugs had expanded to include benzodiazepines, a class of relaxant drugs that include Valium and sleeping tablets.

However, in the eventful week leading up to the double murder, he had lapsed once more.

On Friday, February 22, he presented as usual for a scheduled session at the Ciall Drug Project but it was decided he was in no fit state for counselling due to the stabbing incident on the previous evening.

Some 24 hours later, Curran embarked on a day that tragically encapsulated his life of crime. It began shortly after 10am when he purchased a bottle of vodka. He and some friends, including Sean Keogh, went to the locks at the Grand Canal where he spent much of the morning drinking, smoking cannabis and ingesting Roche "yellows and blues" tablets.

Some time that afternoon, Curran came upon a moped and decided to steal it. A number of gardai were seen approaching so Curran and his pals abandoned the bike, but not before removing two bottles of wine and a screwdriver from it.

He was still in possession of a screwdriver when he received a call from a female friend telling him that his cousin had been in a fight.

He immediately ran down across the Luas tracks at Goldenbridge and headed around to Benbulben Road. Curran continued up the street to a house at 48 Benbulben Road. Polish men Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos were standing outside.

He then viciously drove a screwdriver into the heads of the two men.

His murderous deeds completed, Curran fled to his aunt’s house and stayed there for several days before agreeing to go to a garda station. Despite enduring seven lengthy interviews with gardai, he steadfastly refused to admit that two men had died at his hands.

THE teenagers spent the day down by the banks of the Grand Canal, drinking, smoking cannabis and taking pills.

Bizarrely, given that it was February, they even went swimming.

"Just another day down at the canal," as David Curran told the Central Criminal Court in his evidence.

Less than 300m away from this impromptu party, Polish mechanic Pawel Kalite had just come home to his house on Benbulben Road in Drimnagh, Dublin, after a hard day’s work.

Two very different worlds were about to collide with devastating results, culminating in an act of unspeakable savagery.

David Curran (19) and Sean Keogh (21) sat unblinkingly through their trial for the double murder of Pawel Kalite (29) and Marius Szwajkos (27) on February 23, 2008.

The two young Dublin men had, throughout the course of that day, been socialising with friends and consuming copious amounts of alcohol — vodka and alcopops — hash and pills — Curran admitted taking between 15 and 20 tabs of what he termed as "bluies and yellows". Drugs expert Dr Brian Kirby informed the court that these were benzodiazepam, a sedative, but said a mixture of the two induces a state of aggression.

A young teenage girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also down at the canal, said the group had continued their socialising in a field at St Michael’s.

Curran stole a moped and found a screwdriver in the carrier. He was now armed.

The young girl and friends parted company from Curran and Keogh, going to the chipper on Benbulben Road.

It was here, at about 6.30pm that their paths crossed with Pawel Kalite for the first time. Kalite was coming out of the chipper when a young teenage boy in the group bumped into him.

Kalite became enraged and began to chase the boy around. A row ensued and the boy’s uncle, who was passing by, became involved. Kalite was knocked to the ground in the scuffle.

A housemate, Radek Szeremeta happened to see the incident and saw Mr Kalite receive "hard slaps" from a couple of teenage girls.

Mr Szeremeta asked if he was okay but Mr Kalite did not reply and went home, furious at the humiliation.

When Radek Szeremeta’s sister, Kamila asked Mr Kalite what had happened, he said he had been beaten up by some kids.

Mr Kalite had been "so mad he was crying," Ms Szeremeta said, while her brother recalled him shouting: "I will kill them all."

They begged him not to leave the house to get involved in any trouble but he did not listen. Another housemate, Marius Szwajkos urged him not to leave the house alone.

Meanwhile, back at the shops at Benbulben Road, Curran received a phone call from "some young ones," telling him that his father had been stabbed.

He rushed up, looking for trouble, kicking a car outside the chipper and then the gang set off up Benbulben Road.

He was near the house where the Polish people were standing in the garden when Curran said someone screamed: "It was them."

It all happened in seconds. Kamila Szeremeta ducked as she saw Curran lunge with a screwdriver. It missed her, striking Mr Kalite instead.

Curran claimed "the bald man" — Mr Kalite — came at him, shouting.

"It made me go mad," Curran said. He stabbed Mr Kalite. Then "the other fella was on me and I stabbed him too."

The screwdriver was driven into the brain, through the temple in both men, leaving them with no chance of survival.

"Come on Schillachi (Curran’s nickname), they’re dead," a young boy shouted.

"I got a fright, I ran into the park," said Curran, who told the court how he’d gone home, had a curry for dinner and threw up, before going to "his auntie’s," where he hid.

Text messages had gone backwards and forwards between Curran and the young teenage girl the night of the killing.

"Ha ha but like I can’t believe it. Mad nite xxxx," she said.

He replied: "F*** it. Delete message. Get a new number tomorrow."

UPDATE:

…. Mr Justice McKechnie said the murders had occurred after “an incident of almost meaningless consequence”. The men had not even been involved in a scuffle with Curran, he said. The judge said there was something profoundly sinister not only in what Curran did, but in how he did it.

“With lethal accuracy Mr Curran aimed at the most vulnerable part of one’s body, the temple; then by a single blow which penetrated the skull of Pawel Kalite, he caused his death,” the judge said. “With the same lethal accuracy he aimed it at the same point and in the same way he murdered Marius Szwaijkos.”

Drawing on evidence given by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy during the course of the trial, the judge said it would take great force to penetrate the skull and cause death.

To remove the screwdriver and then do the same again “leaves a chilling and truly disturbing feeling as to what kind of a person would do this brutal and savage” thing, he said. It could well be described as sadistic.

Within a few hours of the murders, Curran “was scheming his way out of it”, the judge said. Phones were gotten rid of, alibis were concocted, and he then “tried to lay it off on Keogh”.

“From that time he did nothing but strategise his way out of it, without pause for thought,” Mr Justice McKechnie said. “Unhesitatingly and without any reservation, I wholly agree with the verdict of the jury.” He offered his condolences to the families of the murdered men and passed the mandatory life sentences on Curran, to run concurrently.

Through his lawyers, Mr Curran apologised to his victims’ families.

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THE FAMILIES of two Polish men who were murdered in Dublin two years ago have described their pain and sense of loss following the deaths.

Pawel Kalite (28) and Marius Szwaijkos (27) were murdered by David Curran, then 17, outside their home on Benbulben Road, Drimnagh, south Dublin, in 2008.

Curran stabbed the two men with a screwdriver after a row outside a local chip shop of which he was not a part. Yesterday, Mr Justice Liam McKechnie sentenced Curran to life in prison for each of the murders.

Victim impact statements were read out in court by Alan Kennedy of Ace Autobody, where the two men had worked.

Mr Kalite’s parents said their son was lively and cheerful, with a “happy, true nature”.

He was honest and diligent and led a simple and peaceful life. He was determined to do his best, and to see the best in the world, they said.

“He didn’t know how to fight or how much cruelty and anger you have to have in yourself to take someone else’s life away,” they said.

He had spent his last holiday with his girlfriend skiing and they had planned to marry. He was to move home in June and two hours before his death had arranged to visit his aunt.

“All his dreams will remain unrealised, they will never have a chance to happen,” his parents said. The tragedy had left them with “the deepest scars” and with “a screwdriver” in their hearts.

What was keeping them alive was knowing his heart was still beating in somebody else, they said. The family of Mr Szwaijkos said nothing could change their pain, sadness and longing after the death.

Mr Szwaijkos was full of life, dreams, happiness and plans, they said, and was a “lovely and talented person”.

They described him as an honest, hard-working, unaggressive young man with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering who was doing his job with a true passion.

Every day for the two years he spent in Ireland he had called his parents. But all his plans and hopes had been destroyed in minutes.” We know that no matter what we do there always will be one person missing, a person that we would like to share our feelings and experiences with,” they said.

The family had gone through hell since his death, they said, and were still experiencing “many sleepless nights, enormous level of stress, headaches and an inability to feel any kind of joy”.

They said they would keep the 30-year-old Volkswagen Beetle Mr Szwaijkos restored.

When a stranger blew out the candle of life, “he killed a good man and he destroyed the lives of his parents, sister and family”, they said.

Outside the Central Criminal Court, Mr Kennedy, accompanied by Agnieszka Kalite, Mr Kalite’s sister, thanked the court and the jury for their verdict on behalf of the family.

He also thanked the people of Drimnagh who had supported them since the deaths as well as gardaí for “two years of hard work”.

“It is something to get a verdict, but for Marius’s family and Pawel’s family all they are left with are memories and heartache,” he said.

As Ms Kalite cried beside him, Mr Kennedy described the “two lovely guys” who had come to work for him.

“We’d invested in their training and they gave it back to us in spades,” he said.

He spoke emotionally of the suffering experienced by both men’s families since their deaths.

“Every day two dads go to a graveyard to keep two graves, they are beautiful graves, but what a sentence to have to go to your son’s grave,” he said.

“What a waste of life.”