Man gets life for baseball bat murder

A Hungarian national has been jailed for life for murdering a 20-year-old Kildare man with a baseball bat.

Zoltan Almasi, 44, with an address at Harbour View, Naas, Co Kildare, was charged with murdering Joseph Dunne at the same address on May 16, 2014.

Almasi had pleaded not guilty to murder.

On March 10, a jury found Almasi guilty by majority verdict of murdering Mr Dunne.

The court heard that Joseph Dunne was the youngest of four boys and both his parents are still alive.

Almasi has three previous convictions for road traffic offences. He has been in custody since May 16, 2014 and at the time of the offence he was working for a courier company. His wife and stepson had previously resided in Naas but they have since moved to Canada.

The court heard Almasi has three children from a previous marriage and they reside in Hungary.

Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan sentenced Almasi to life imprisonment and backdated it to the date of his arrest on May 16, 2014.

“It would be remiss of me not to extend my sympathy to the family of Joseph Dunne,” she said.