Leszek Sychulec jailed for life for Shannon murder

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

On 13 June 2016, Mr Justice Tony Hunt imposed mandatory life sentences on Leszek Sychulec and Andrzej Gruchacz for murdering Patryk Krupa, with concurrent sentences for false imprisonment of seven years for Sychulec and five years for Gruchacz.

The life sentences were backdated to their respective dates of entry into custody.

Both men had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Krupa at Bogganfin, Athlone, Co Roscommon. A jury of four women and eight men found both guilty of murder on 21 April 2016 after five hours of deliberations. The proceedings were reported on 13 June 2016.

Mr Krupa, who was 23, drowned in the River Shannon outside Athlone on 20 June 2014 while incapacitated by a head injury sustained in a violent assault.

Defence counsel Sean Gillane SC said Sychulec was a Polish national with limited English and the parent of a two-year-old child. Defence counsel Conor Devally SC said Gruchacz had spent much of his education in young offenders units.

The judge said no explanation for the background to the killing had been forthcoming. He identified the men's cooperation with the investigation as mitigation, saying there were very few mitigating factors beyond that.