Rihards Lavickis denies murder charge at trial

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

Rihards Lavickis pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to the manslaughter of Akadiusz ‘Arek’ Czajkowski. The proceedings at the Central Criminal Court were reported on 9 February 2018.

The charges relate to Mr Czajkowski’s death at Rue Noyal Chatillon, Townspark, Longford, on 1 November 2016. The trial heard that Mr Lavickis admitted stabbing him and told gardai that Mr Czajkowski had smashed his apartment windows on Halloween night and that he was going to “sort this out”.

Opening the prosecution case, Patrick McGrath SC said there had been disputes and friction between the men. He said it appeared Mr Lavickis believed Mr Czajkowski was responsible for the broken windows, went looking for him and brought a knife.

Mr McGrath said CCTV appeared to show Mr Lavickis conceal himself and then run towards Mr Czajkowski with his arm raised. The prosecution said he had a knife in his hand. Mr McGrath said the fatal incident was not captured on CCTV and that Mr Lavickis stabbed Mr Czajkowski three times.

The report said the trial would continue before Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.