Man crushed in refuse lorry may have been assaulted

Gardaí investigating the death of a homeless Polish man are examining suspicions he may have been assaulted before he ended up in a large wheelie bin.

The body of 43-year-old Henryk Piotrowski, a father of two, was found by shocked workers at the Panda recycling plant in Walkinstown last Friday morning after a refuse lorry emptied its contents.

The Polish national was known to homeless services in the city and was an alcoholic. He has no family here. It is understood his estranged wife and two children live in Poland and have no money to fly to Ireland.

It emerged initially that Mr Piotrowski may have sought shelter in a wheelie bin from the rain on Thursday, but detectives have since been informed that this is something homeless people avoid doing because of the obvious dangers.

Furthermore, an autopsy conducted by assistant State pathologist Michael Curtis on Friday night revealed injuries to the man’s face which were consistent with an assault.

Mr Piotrowski suffered broken legs and crush injuries, caused by the compression and packing inside the lorry, but it is thought that these were not sufficient to kill him.

Detectives in Crumlin Garda Station are now investigating a number of possibilities. The first is that he was assaulted by someone or by a group of people, who, in turn, dumped him in a wheelie bin.

A second theory is that he was assaulted and was disorientated and somehow fell or climbed into a bin. A third possibility is that he was assaulted and fell asleep, possibly inside a sleeping bag, and that a group of people threw him into the bin as a sick joke.

“There are concerns that he may have been assaulted and we are investigating that,” said a Garda source.

He said that the deceased was a “chronic alcoholic” and that he often approached people who were drinking to see if he could have some, but added: “He was an inoffensive fella, he wouldn’t fight with anyone.”

Mr Piotrowski had been in Ireland for four years, leaving his estranged wife and children behind in Poland. He is known to have sent money home to them regularly.

He often stayed in hostels and B&Bs, but often slept in doorways.

Gardaí have so far established that he was seen on Dame St, outside Central Bank, at midnight on Thursday. His body was found at 9am on Friday and gardaí said he was not long dead.

The Garda team are in the process of contacting owners of 67 premises who had their bins collected by that the particularly lorry in a bid to access any CCTV cameras they might have.

People with information can ring Crumlin Garda Station on 01 666 6200.