Courts / Louth / Report

Father-of-five jailed for life for axe murder of man whose body was found on beach

Date
2015-05-20

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Drogheda

County
Louth

Summary

Marius Gaizutis, 52, of Drogheda, was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court for the axe murder of Lithuanian national Audrius Butkus, 44, whose body was found on a Meath beach on 10 September 2013. Gaizutis pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter when arraigned. A jury of four women and eight men found him guilty after deliberating for two hours and forty minutes. Justice Margaret Heneghan described the case as shocking and imposed a mandatory life sentence, back‑dated to his arrest on 2 October 2013. Evidence showed Butkus died from blunt‑force trauma to the head caused by an axe. Gaizutis had returned from Northern Ireland and surrendered to Gardaí on 29 September 2013. The trial highlighted that Butkus was a homeless single man with no known relatives, and that no witnesses were present at the time of his death.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Father-of-five jailed for life for axe murder of man whose body was found on beach. Charges or matters: murder. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

May 1 Hearing Or Sentence
October 2, 2013 Other
September 10 2013 Hearing Or Sentence
September 29 2013 Incident
April 20 Hearing Or Sentence
October 2009 Hearing Or Sentence
2015-05-20 Publication

Case subjects

Marius Gaizutis

Convicted Person

Charges: murder (Alleged Or Contested)

Plea: Not guilty

Outcome: Ms Justice Heneghan then handed Gaizutis down a mandatory life sentence, which she back-dated to when he was taken into custody on October 2, 2013.