Andrejs Krauze loses murder conviction appeal

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

Andrejs Krauze lost his appeal against his murder conviction before the Court of Appeal. The proceedings were reported on 21 March 2019.

Krauze had pleaded not guilty to murdering Juris Buls in the county on 7 or 8 July 2011. A jury unanimously convicted him, and Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan imposed the mandatory life sentence at the Central Criminal Court on 29 March 2017.

The prosecution’s case was that Krauze went to Buls’ home and strangled him before moving his body to woods. The report said Buls had refused to withdraw a Garda complaint against Krauze.

Krauze’s lawyers challenged the Garda interview conducted in Riga in March 2012, the admission of evidence about an earlier altercation with Buls, and the independence of the interpreter. Mr Justice George Birmingham said there was no indication that the interview admissions resulted from coercion, oppression or an inducement. The court found that the jury was entitled to hear the evidence of the earlier altercation and that there was no suggestion anything had been misinterpreted.

Mr Justice Birmingham, sitting with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, dismissed the appeal. He said none of the grounds had caused the court to doubt the fairness of the trial or the safety of the verdict.