No verdict in stabbing trial
A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Brazilian man accused of stabbing his partner’s ex-husband.
Ricardo Evangelista (26) has denied assault causing harm to Michael Korytkowski at a car park in Letterkenny on November 23, 2009.
The jury failed to reach a verdict after deliberating for two and a half hours following the day and a half trial at Letterkenny Circuit Court last Wednesday and Thursday.
The Brazilian national, of 101 Lawnsdale, Ballybofey denied stabbing Mr Korytkowski in the leg with an 8-inch knife said the injuries were caused when he threw an iron bar at him in self defence.
Both men had been at the Goldren Grill nightclub before the assault took place.
The 29-year-old Polish chef required surgery to a deep wound on his left leg after attending Letterkenny General Hospital.
He said he received the wound after Evangelista stabbed him in the leg with a knife. On the second day of the trial Evangelista told the court he was going to his car in the car park of the AIB when he saw Korytkowski and his friend, Daniel Kielbasinski, running towards him. Mr Korytkowski started kicking the front of his car, he said. Under cross-examination from counsel for the State, Patricia McLaughlin (BL), Evangelista said he started backing and away and was looking for something to use to defend himself. He said he found a metal bar which he described as a “bar for a garden, for flowers”. He said he threw it at Korytkowski as he ran towards him. “I just threw it and the end of it must have went through his leg.” He denied that he stabbed Korytkowski .
Ms McLaughlin said the account of events he gave the court was “absolutely ludicrous”. “It does not concur with the injuries he sustained. He was stabbed in the leg by you and the account given by him and Daniel is what happened”.
Charging the jury Judge John O’Hagan that whether a bar or a knife was used, a wound was caused and an assault took place. He said the jury had to consider if Evangelista’s account was true and if it was, was the force used justifiable?
The case was adjourned to the next session of the circuit court in July for the Director of Public Prosecutions to make a decision on whether Evangelista will face trial again.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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