TWO TRUCK DRIVERS have gone on trial charged with the murder of a Slovakian father-of-two who was struck with an iron bar during a row at a petrol station in Fermoy, Co Cork, in February 2017.

Marcin Skrzypezyk (31) and Tomasz Wasowicz (45) were charged with the murder of Ludovit Pasztor at the Amber Petrol Station, Carrignagroghera, Fermoy, on 21 February 2017.

Wasowicz was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm on the same date.

The men, who are Polish nationals, went on trial at the Central Court Criminal, which is sitting in Cork, today. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Outlining the case for the State, Siobhan Lankford, SC, said a dispute had broken out between the two accused, Pasztor and his friend Mariusz Osail on the evening of 21 February 2017.

Addressing the jury of eight men and four women, Lankford said 40-year-old Pasztor went to his friend’s house in Fermoy at 2.30pm on the day in question.

Pasztor and his friend, Osail, consumed “a significant amount of alcohol”.

Between 9.30pm and 9.45pm they went to the Amber Petrol Station in Fermoy and purchased eight cans of Carlsberg.

Meanwhile, the court heard the two accused were working for a haulage company at the time.

They were complying with tachograph rules which allow individuals to log a certain number of hours driving before requiring them to have a rest period.

The two men got out of their trucks to go to the toilet.

Pasztor and Osail were passing and heard the pair conversing in Polish so they went over to speak to them.

The conversation became acrimonious and Lankford said witnesses would give evidence that there was “argy bargy” or “unhappy words”.

Two iron bars 

Pasztor and his friend went back to the house and got two bars from a dismantled trampoline. Lankford said Pasztor and Osail then returned to the petrol station.

They took two of these (bars) and went back to the Amber Filling Station with a view to renewing their conversation with the two truckers. They knocked on the door of the truck and the two drivers came out.

Langford said another truck driver would give evidence of witnessing a physical altercation between the four men.

Pasztor and Osail were disarmed of their iron bars. Pasztor got hit in the altercation.

Osail made a 999 call at 10.15pm and gardaí were on the scene at 10.22am. They found two iron bars – one at the scene and one in a field nearby. A stun gun was also found in Wasowicz’s truck.

Pasztor had moved to Ireland in 2010. He was employed in Kepak Meats in Watergrasshill and later in Silver Pail Dairy in Fermoy.

Skrzypezyk, who previously lived in Macroom in Co Cork, and Wasowicz, who previously lived in Portarlington in Co Laois, returned from Poland to answer the charges.

The case, which is being presided over by Justice Carmel Stewart, will last for up to three weeks.

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