How an ordinary event ended in brutal deaths

SEEING the faces of the smiling, good natured men whose lives were brutally taken away brings home the human loss.

The ordinary, everyday circumstances in which Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos were murdered adds to the tragedy.

Last Saturday, the Polish men went to their local chipper, literally across the road from their rented home on Benbulbin Road in Drimnagh, south Dublin.

According to gardaí, they left the Drimnagh Takeaway at 6.45pm and “brushed past” a gang of youths hanging around outside.

Gardaí believe there were three teenage boys in the gang, aged 15, 17 and 19, and two teenage girls, aged around 15 or 16.

Verbal abuse was fired at the Polish men and an altercation of some sort took place.

One of the boys grabbed a screwdriver from his home nearby and drove it into the men’s heads, inflicting serious brain damage.

People have been left reeling that such extreme violence, sparked over a minor incident, took place at teatime on a busy road in a normal suburb.

“A number of things makes this incident so shocking,” said Dr Ian O’Donnell of the Institute of Criminology in UCD. “The first is that the circumstances were so ordinary. This was an ordinary street. Anyone could find themselves on a street at 6.45pm on a Saturday evening.

“The second is the weapon used — a household tool, an ordinary implement — turned into an instrument of lethal violence. Then there’s something about the fact that these are two Polish guys coming here to make a better life. They come over here to find some measure of economic success and end up beaten to death on street.

“Then there’s the age of the alleged perpetrators, one or two are children, that’s kind of shocking.”

Dr Barry Vaughan, a lecturer in criminal justice at the Institute of Public Administration, said: “The problem is these kids aren’t able to resolve matters peacefully. I know that sounds like an obvious thing, but they are not able to deal with things in such a way that produces a peaceful outcome. For whatever reason, they are marked by impulsiveness and a lack of empathy and there’s a severe reaction to perceived insults against themselves.”

He said there was international research on what makes young men and boys aggressive. “One of the factors universally is poor schooling and poor results at school. They tend to have poor problem-solving abilities.”

“Generally, the father is either absent or very intermittent presence and whatever discipline that goes on could be very heavy handed one day, totally absent the next day. There is no clear parenting signals being transmitted in terms of right and wrong and appropriate behaviour.”

He said figures for last year highlighted a sharp rise in fatal stabbings.

“As casual violence increases, we’re more likely to get ready-to-hand implements like a knife or whatever being used. You ask yourself are we getting to a situation like other big cities like London where young kids are carrying weapons as form of self defence in case they are attacked.”

Many local councillors and gardaí say many young men are doing exactly this.

“Carrying knives is not as prominent as people might think, but it’s more prominent in certain parts of cities,” said one experienced juvenile liaison garda. “They know others are carrying knives so they think ‘I better’, but there might not be an intent of using it. It might also be a young macho thing to have a knife.”

But the garda cautioned against the temptation to tarnish with one brush all young kids hanging around estates and streets.

“Some people want to stereotype our young people, which is wrong. The majority of young people are quite good, no different to previous generations growing up. There are more excessive temptations now compared with what was there generations ago.”

But he added: “There’s a small core group that haven’t the same minding. In my opinion, there’s a very small core group that definitely do need and require more intervention. That’s what we’re grappling with at the moment, trying to provide some kind of intervention.”

He said Garda figures showed only about 3% of the young population came to the attention of the Garda Diversion Programme and that less than a third of those go back to crime.

Dr O’Donnell said three factors influences a rise in violent crime: soaring alcohol consumption, greater drug use and a rising young population.

He said low-level anti-social behaviour of gangs hanging around in Drimnagh was typical of many urban areas. “This can make people feel anxious and impact on the quality of their lives. People feel a bit nervous passing them by. Very seldom does it erupt in this kind of violence.”

“No matter how many guards are on patrol these kind of incidents will still happen.”

He sees greater co-operation between the gardaí and the community as a way forward. “Gardaí are working closely with a lot of local communities, with joint policing committees and such. There’s definitely progress on those fronts.”