This article is from page 4 of the 2014-11-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THERE were unruly scenes at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin last week after Michael Maughan of Stone Court, Ennis, was convicted of murdering Piotr Nowakowski (peter nova kovskee) in Ennis last year.
Supporters of the accused man shouted abuse at the jury and overturned a bench in the court room.
It took the jury under 2 and a half hours to unanimously convict Michael Maughan (40) of the murder of Piotr Nowakowski at Sandf eld Mews in Ennis in July last year.
He had admitted manslaughter. The jury heard he stabbed the Polish man twice after they’d spent the day and night drinking together.
In a victim impact statement relatives said his loss is like ‘a big sadness taking our soul’.
Maughan’s lawyers offered his apologies and said he really regrets what he’s done. Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence for murder and the court rose.
After that there was uproar as a couple of Michael Maughan’s supporters overturned a bench and hurled verbal abuse at the jury before gardaí intervened to restore order.
Michael Maughan, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Piotr Nowakowski, aged 31, at Sandf eld Mews, Ennis, on July 23, 2013.
The Central Criminal Court was told that the manslaughter plea was not acceptable to the prosecution and a jury was sworn in for the one-week trial. Maughan had also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Declan O’Dea at the same address on the same date. The jury of seven men and f ve women found him guilty on both counts by unanimous decision after two hours and 23 minutes.
Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down the mandatory life sentence for the murder to run concurrently with four years for the assault. He backdated both sentences to July 24, 2013, for time spent in custody.
Mr Nowakowski was stabbed twice and died in an ambulance on the way to Shannon Airport, from where he was to be airlifted to hospital in Cork. The court heard that Maughan and his brother had been drinking with the men in the apartment in the Sandf eld complex earlier that day and returned there that night.
He told gardaí he was angry when he was not allowed in.
He said he lifted his brother in through a window so he could let him in the front door.
Maughan told gardaí that he went into the bedroom where Mr O’Dea and Mr Nowakowski were asleep.
After Mr Nowakowski followed him into to the kitchen, he got paranoid and grabbed a carving knife from the counter.
He told gardaí he “just went berserk” and he stabbed him twice in the side. The court heard the deceased received several blows and was stabbed before receiving a further kick to the head.