Andrzej Wawrzyniak jailed for manslaughter in Dublin

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

Andrzej Wawrzyniak was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, with one year suspended, for manslaughter by Mr Justice Robert Eagar at the Central Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 1 November 2016.

He had originally been charged with murder and was convicted of the manslaughter of Jacek Kozakiewicz following a trial earlier in 2016. He had pleaded not guilty to murder. The killing took place at the former Vallance and McGrath pub on Dublin’s North Wall Quay on 26 February 2014.

Wawrzyniak admitted assaulting Filip Talaj. His sentence for that assault was three-and-half years, running concurrently with the manslaughter sentence. The assault occurred inside the squat on 26 February 2014.

The report said Wawrzyniak stabbed Kozakiewicz 22 times during a drunken row inside the squat they shared. Sergeant John Grady told the court that, during interviews, Wawrzyniak said Kozakiewicz had grabbed his throat and punched him in the face. The court heard that Wawrzyniak said they were grappling on the floor when he saw a knife, grabbed it and stabbed Kozakiewicz.

Mr Justice Eagar said the normal sentence for such a violent killing would have been nine years. He identified Wawrzyniak’s request that a Luas driver call gardaí, and his subsequent willingness to help other prison inmates, as mitigating factors.