Polish man 'stabbed four times, and kicked,' during assault

A man who repeatedly stabbed a Polish national leaving him with life-threatening injuries has had his sentence adjourned by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

James Boland (aged 25) of Kerdiff Close, Naas, previously of Kilmahuddrick Grove, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Gregorz Mylnarski and to assault causing harm to Magdalena Mylnarski, at Maplewood Road, Tallaght on February 10, 2007.

Garda Ciaran Loughrey told prosecuting council, Mr Vincent Heneghan BL, that Mr Mylnarski was stabbed four times during the attack and that witnesses said that he was kicked several times while he lay on the ground.

Mr Heneghan, reading from the victim impact statement, told the court that Mr Mylnarski experienced major blood loss and suffered damage to his pancreas and bowel.

Garda Loughrey said that Mr Mylnarski’s wife, Magdalena, was also stabbed, once to the thigh, as she tried to protect her husband and that another member of their group received a stab wound to his shoulder during the incident.

Boland does not face any charges in relation to this second man. He had 20 previous convictions including a drink-driving charge and a public order offence.

Judge Hogan said that Boland still had “a custodial sentence looming” but accepted that he has a child, with a serious medical condition, who is heavily reliant on both Boland and his partner.

He said he was worried that Boland “may have a tendency towards violent behaviour” after hearing from garda Loughrey that the man is facing an allegation of assault against his partner last April, a charge which is pending at Naas District Court.

Judge Hogan adjourned the case to next March “to see how he behaves in that time” and ordered that Boland liaise with the Probation Service and attend an anger management course.

“If he gets into trouble in the meantime, he has brought this down on himself,” Judge Hogan said.

Mr Erwan Mill-Arden SC, defending, offered a different explanation for that night’s events to garda Loughrey.

He suggested that the defendant was heavily intoxicated after drinking close to “two bottles of vodka, eight cans of beer and some Micky Finn” and that shortly before the first altercation with Mr Mylnarski’s group, Boland was involved in an incident with another man who had threatened him in relation to money.

Mr Mill-Arden said that, after the first attack on Mr Mylnarski, Boland had gone to get a knife to follow the man who had earlier threatened him. Garda Loughrey said that he did not believe this to be true.

Mr Mill-Arden submitted that Boland was drunk on the night of the offence and that he had since attempted to address his problems with alcohol by attending a clinic. He said that his client had been in regular employment since he left school, until he was recently made redundant and that he was a family-man.

Additional evidence below:

Garda Loughrey told Mr Heneghan that Mr Mylnarski was walking toward the LUAS with his wife and friends when they noticed a girl running screaming from a house where a party was taking place.

He said that she was followed by a man, who was shouting after her and as a group of people from the party passed Mr Mylnarski, he asked them: “What’s the craic?”.

Garda Loughrey said that one of the group passed comment: “F****** Polish” at which point Mr Mylnarski was struck and knocked to the ground and that while on the ground he was punched and kicked a number of times. He said Boland was identified as one of the people who struck the victim.

Garda Loughrey told the court that there was a lull in the fighting after a number of females from the house party intervened. He said that Mr Mylnarski’s group attempted to return home at that point, however they were followed by a number of people from the party and set upon for a second time, on Maplewood Road.

Garda Loughrey said that he believed Boland had returned to his house to get a knife in between the two altercations. It was during the second attack that Mr Mylnarski received his life-threatening injuries.