Pair get life for vicious street murder of 'super son'

TWO men have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the “brutal” murder of a “good friend, amazing brother and super son" who was taking his last step towards fulfilling his life when he was beaten to death on a Dublin street.

- BY EOIN REYNOLDS

Passing sentence yesterday, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said that one of the defendants, Mark Lee, 44, murdered Josip Strok, 31, while acting on weak hearsay evidence from two youths that the deceased and his friend David Druzinec, 29, had assaulted a child.

The judge noted Lee, a then unemployed man in his 40s, had earlier that day posted on social media saying: “I'm not homophobic myself, but I am racist and I'm not afraid to say it. Only towards certain groups in Ireland. The Government made me like that.”

She described other online statements Lee made in the months prior to the assault as “ugly, ill-informed and discriminatory”.

As Croatian nationals, both Mr Strok and Mr Druzinec were entitled to travel to and work in Ireland, she said, in the same way many Irish people avail of the right to travel.

Unlike the two men who murdered Mr Strok, the deceased and Mr Druzinec were working, Ms Justice Ring said, and therefore offered more to Irish society.

While Lee enjoyed the presumption of innocence during his trial, Ms Justice Ring said the deceased was given no such presumption. His murderers acted on the “weakest of hearsay on hearsay evidence”.