More arrests expected in murder probe

GARDAÍ are expected to make more arrests in connection with the murder of two Polish men following the detention yesterday of a 14-year-old girl.

Detectives arrested the girl at around 8am yesterday at her parents’ home in Crumlin, south Dublin.

Officers suspect the girl was on Benbulbin Road in Drimnagh, south Dublin, when Pawel Kalita and Marius Szwajkos, were brutally murdered last Saturday week. Gardaí suspect she was involved in an initial assault on Mr Kalita outside the Drimnagh Take Away on Benbulbin Road and that she witnessed the subsequent attack by male friends on Mr Kalita and Mr Szwajkos.

The girl had spoken voluntarily to investigating officers after the brutal murder. She was arrested because some of what she said “didn’t add up”, Garda sources said.

Gardaí said that more people are expected to be interviewed.

Sources yesterday dismissed some media reports that differing recollections by witnesses about the details of what exactly happened could jeopardise any prosecution. Gardaí said that such differences were not uncommon in highly stressful situations.

It is not clear yet whether there was one or two attackers. Gardaí believe the first assault took place when Mr Kalita “brushed off” local teenagers after he left the takeaway. They believe Mr Kalita was verbally abused by a gang of four, including the young girl, and he was “jumped on” after he stood up for himself.

Mr Kalita then walked the short distance home to his rented house where he told Mr Szwajkos and a Polish woman what happened. Mr Kalita went out of the house again when the gang of youths, now numbering between five and six, followed him and abused him from the street. It is understood his Polish friends pleaded with him not to go out. When he went out he was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver. Mr Szwajkos went to his aid and was also stabbed in the head.

Gardaí last week arrested three males suspected of being involved: a 17-year-old from Drimnagh, a 19-year-old from nearby Inchicore and a 15-year-old from Tallaght.

Meanwhile, the Dublin City Coroner was expected yesterday to give formal clearance for the repatriation of the Polish men’s bodies. This will now take place in the coming days, possibly as early as today.

Fine Gael yesterday called for a six-month Garda crackdown on the proliferation of knives and offensive weapons.

“The deaths of Pawel Kalita and Marius Szwajkos must serve as a watershed,” said justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan. “Violent crime represents a fundamental threat to the safety of our communities. Knife crime has risen by 300% in four years.”