Man (21) gets suspended sentence for assault while others beat man to death on Dublin street

Eoin Reynolds

An apprentice electrician who was cleared of murder has received a wholly suspended sentence for assaulting a man while two others beat that man's friend to death on a Dublin street.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring warned Connor Rafferty (21) that if he breaches the terms of his suspension or breaks the law, he will serve four years in prison.

She added: "If someone says to you, it's only a bit of hash, or it's only a bit of cocaine, you have to decide if it is worth four years in prison. If you choose trouble, if you choose drugs, you are choosing four years imprisonment."

Rafferty, of Castlegrange Close, Clondalkin, was initially charged with the murder of Josip Strok (31) at Grange View Way on April 3rd, 2024, but a jury found him not guilty of that charge last month

He pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Strok's friend, David Druzinec (29) and Ms Justice Ring sentenced him for that offence on Monday.

Mark Lee (44), of no fixed abode, and Anthony Delappe (19) of Melrose Avenue, Clondalkin were both convicted of Mr Strok's murder following a trial and are serving life sentences.

The trial heard that local youths told Mark Lee, a self-avowed racist, of an assault on a local youth by two men.

The court was told that Mr Druzinec became involved in an altercation with a 17-year-old boy at a bus stop in Clondalkin. Mr Strok pulled his friend away from the youth after Mr Druzinec had dragged the boy to the ground.

Lee went into his home and emerged 58 seconds later followed by Delappe holding a hard plastic pickaxe handle. Delappe and Rafferty were smoking cannabis in Lee's house and followed him in pursuit of Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec.

Lee punched Mr Strok repeatedly in the face, knocked him to the ground and kicked and stamped on his head. Delappe struck Mr Strok repeatedly with a plastic pickaxe handle.

After Mr Strok stopped moving, Rafferty struck him three times with a half-crutch he had brought from Mark Lee's home.

Rafferty would later tell gardaí that he had only inflicted two or three "light smacks" on Mr Strok's back and had not intended to cause him harm. A jury acquitted Rafferty of any crime in relation to the assault on Mr Strok.

Ms Justice Ring said CCTV footage showed that Mr Druzinec suffered a "no warning attack from behind which left him in no position to defend himself".

He suffered several injuries including lacerations to the forehead and scalp, bruising to his left eye which was swollen shut, deformity of the nose and fractures near the eyes. He spent one night in hospital.

Ms Justice Ring said that Rafferty was the least culpable of the three accused and acted on misinformation from Lee who had told him of an assault on "young kids".

During garda interviews, Rafferty said: "I heard two men had assaulted younger kids and in the moment I wasn’t thinking. I was full of adrenaline. I heard they got a hiding. What I did wasn’t right, I feel terrible."

Ms Justice Ring said Rafferty's use of cannabis played a part in his deciding to get involved in the assault and she said he was "provoked by Mark Lee", whom she described as a "provocateur some fourteen years older than Mr Rafferty".

Rafferty's motivation for getting involved in the assault, she said, was a "misguided and misinformed notion of intervening on behalf of unknown, younger children".

While there was no suggestion that Rafferty shared Lee's anti-immigrant views, Ms Justice Ring said Rafferty did show disregard for the health and safety of Mr Druzinec.

The use of the half-crutch and the fact there were multiple people involved in the assault were aggravating factors, the judge said as she set a headline sentence of six years.

Having considered Rafferty's admissions to gardaí, his early guilty plea, remorse and efforts at rehabilitation already undertaken, Ms Justice Ring imposed a four-year sentence which she suspended in full.

The judge noted that Rafferty has embarked on an apprenticeship as an electrician and dissociated from the people he had been hanging around with prior to the offence.

She said Rafferty's parents, whom she described as law-abiding people, have seen a change in his behaviour in the past 18 months.

As part of the conditions for the suspended sentence, Rafferty must be of good behaviour, follow the directions of the probation services and attend all recommended courses for 12 months. Any breach, the judge said, will trigger the four-year sentence.