Monika Matracka jailed six years for manslaughter

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

Monika Matracka was sentenced to six years in prison by Mr Justice Paul Butler at the Central Criminal Court on 24 April 2017. The sentence was backdated to 8 January 2016, when she went into custody.

She had pleaded not guilty to murder. The charge concerned the killing of her former partner and housemate, Michal Rejmer, at The Pines, Briarfield, Castletroy, Limerick, between 8pm on 30 December and midnight on 31 December 2015. A majority jury found her not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in February 2017. The proceedings were reported on 24 April 2017.

The judge considered the offence midrange and eight years appropriate before mitigation. He said he would have suspended two years because of her low risk of reoffending, but imposed a straight six years because of complications if she sought to transfer to Poland to serve her sentence. He also considered that at least part of her sentence would have to be served in this jurisdiction.

The mitigating factors included her lack of previous convictions, remorse from a very early stage and offer of a plea to manslaughter. The judge said she stabbed Mr Rejmer several times, causing his death, and that his body was later hidden in the garden and attempts made to destroy evidence.

Matracka told gardaí that on 30 December 2015 Mr Rejmer demanded repayment of money and threatened her life if she did not repay him. She said he then cut her left hand with a knife. She told gardaí she stabbed him in self-defence.

Mr Rejmer was reported missing on 6 January 2016. His friend and a local volunteer discovered his body beneath plastic sheeting behind his house on 8 January 2016. State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the jury that he died from bleeding caused by stab wounds to the arms.