Aivars Sondors pleads not guilty to impeding prosecution

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Aivars Sondors pleaded not guilty to three counts of assisting an offender at the Central Criminal Court on 19 June 2017. The charges allege he impeded the apprehension or prosecution of Marius Gaizutis after Audrius Butkus was killed in Drogheda in 2013.

The prosecution alleges that Sondors moved Butkus’s body to Mornington Beach, helped clean a house on Marsh Road and disposed of materials from the scene. Sondors admits carrying out the acts but says he did so under duress, leaving that issue for the jury.

A jury was sworn and the trial was expected to last seven days before Mr Justice Paul Coffey.