TWO hours before Pawel Kalite was stabbed in the head in an unprovoked attack, he was on the phone with his aunt back in Poland arranging a trip home to look into organising a loan for an apartment for himself and his girlfriend.

As his killer was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment, Pawel's family described the gentle, honest man who had found the woman he wanted to marry and longed to move home to her.

He had been a sickly child, his parents wrote in their victim impact statement, small for his age, but always happy and cheerful. He had fought for his independence, but the decision to move to Ireland had not been an easy one. He had been working hard to learn English and had found a job as a mechanic with Ace Autobody in Dublin.

The 29-year-old loved the job and had been working there on the day he died, Saturday, February 23, 2008. He decided to head down to the chipper after work.

Outside the Drimnagh Takeaway in Dublin he bumped into one of the teens hanging around. It was this brief confrontation -- at about 6.30pm -- that set in motion the chain of events that would result in Pawel's death, and that of his housemate who had gone to help him. Pawel took offence and chased after the teenage boy. There was a scuffle and suddenly a car pulled up and a man got out. The man was the father of David Curran, the 19-year-old with an address at Lisadell Green, Drimnagh, who was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after being convicted of Pawel's murder and that of hisfriend Mariusz Szwajkos.

Curran's father grabbed Pawel by the throat and pushed him up against the shutters of the butcher's shop beside the takeaway, telling him to leave the kid alone. Pawel was knocked to the ground and kicked and punched. The landlord of the butchers, Rory O'Connor, came out of his shop and helped the Polish man to his feet. He told the attackers "he's had enough".

Pawel picked up the bag of chips he had left down when the trouble started, and headed for home. As he passed the two teenage girls who had been with the boy, one of them tried to hit him with a bottle but Pawel kept walking. Mr O'Connor went to get his car to give the Polish man a lift home as he sensed danger, but by the time he had reached Benbulben Road, Pawel had already gone into his house.

The teenagers were still milling around the takeaway. One of the girls was crying, the other one was angry and the boy kept saying he would not let this go. One of the girls called David Curran, and minutes later he appeared, armed with a screwdriver.

Pawel was upset when he got home. He stopped in the hall to take off his shoes and ranted to his housemates Radek Szeremeta and Mariusz about what had happened. He told them he was almost 30 and had just been attacked by teenage punks. He would kill them, he said, and pulled on his boots to go back outside. His housemates were worried. They warned him not to go back outside. Kamila, Radek's sister, who also lived in the house, grabbed his hand to stop him leaving the garden until the other men could go with him for safety.

David Curran had spent the day drinking and taking a mix of prescription drugs and cannabis with several other teenagers.

The oldest of five children, he had been kicked out of school at 15 with no qualifications. His days now revolved around the drink and the drugs and the "robbing" with which he financed his habit. His drugs of choice were the

so-called Blueys and Yellows -- the proprietary benzodiazepine Diazepam 5 or 10 mgs. He had tried to kick the habit several times, he even had an appointment with a drugs counsellor on the day before the killings.

When he gave evidence last week, Curran told the court that he had stopped drinking and taking the benzodiazepines but was still smoking cannabis. On February 23 he had slipped completely. He had been stabbed just two days earlier, and had been sent home from his counselling session the following day as a result.

That Saturday, he got up at around 10am and headed out to get "off his head". He and some others went down to the canal, where they spent the morning drinking beer and vodka, popping pills and smoking joints. They swam in the freezing waters of the canal and generally hung about. More drink was got, alcopops this time, and the day continued.

When the delights of the canal bank paled, the party moved on to the fields near St Michael's estate in Inchicore. At one point in the afternoon, they took a moped from outside a pub. They couldn't get it started so they torched it, but saved from the flames two bottles of wine and the murder weapon, a black and orange Philips screwdriver.

When Curran got the call from the excited girls after their run-in with Pawel he was with Sean Keogh looking for a way to break into a factory. They set off towards the Drimnagh Takeaway. Curran was acting like a lunatic. He attacked a car parked outside the takeaway until the teenage boy who had had the initial confrontation with Pawel Kalite called him off, leading him towards Pawel's house on Benbulben Road.

The gang of teenagers went down the road shouting and roaring. Those who saw them pass knew they were looking for trouble. The gardai were called before the teenagers even reached the house.

Pawel, Mariusz and Kamila were in the garden when the teens arrived on the opposite side of the road. Kamila remembered them shouting: "All Poles are fuckers." She shouted back: "Why?" There wasn't time for any more shouting though, because Curran was already on the move. He ran towards the Polish threesome with the screwdriver help up at head height.

Kamila ducked to avoid the first blow, but Pawel, standing beside her, was not so lucky. He fell to the ground when the screwdriver pierced his skull at the temple, driving deep into his brain, leaving irreparable damage.

As Pawel hit the ground, Sean Keogh gave him a kick to the head, breaking his teeth. The 21-year-old from Vincent Street West, Inchicore, was found not guilty of the two murders, but he will face sentencing for this assault later this month.

But Curran was not finished. As Mariusz jumped over the fence to help his injured friend, Curran swung the screwdriver again, inflicting an almost identical wound, and with just as devastating consequences.

Curran's defence was one of provocation. He claimed that he had been told Pawel had stabbed his father and had been out of control on the volatile cocktail of drink and drugs. His defence called a pharmacological expert to explain to the court the inflammatory effect the benzodiazepines could have when mixed with alcohol.

The issue of provocation was the subject of long and heated legal arguments. Mr Justice Liam McKechnie did not initially allow the defence when Curran's legal team asked for permission to use it at the close of the prosecution case.

It was not until a second application after Curran had taken the stand in his own defence that provocation was allowed as a defence.

Mr Justice McKechnie told Curran's barrister Giolliaosa O Lideadha SC that he did not want to allow the defence but the bar was set so low in law he had no choice.

Provocation is a defence which can reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter. It is judged on the purely subjective grounds of the accused's personality, beliefs and state of mind at the precise moment in question. The issue is likely to form the basis to any future appeal Curran makes as his defence team were not happy with the way the judge charged the jury on the matter.

The jury took just under six hours to convict Curran unanimously for the murder of Pawel Kalite. They found him guilty of the murder of Mariusz Szwajkos by a majority of 11 to 1.

As he sentenced him to two life sentences, Mr Justice McKechnie said he had absolutely no hesitation in agreeing with the verdict of the jury. The details of the attack, he said "leave a chilling and truly disturbing feeling as to what kind of person would do this". It was a brutal and savage attack, he said "and one could well describe it as sadistic".

Speaking outside the court, Pawel and Mariusz's former employer Alan Kennedy said that no verdict could bring back the two men to their families. Earlier he had read victim impact statements from the two families to the court. Mariusz's family said they treasured the vintage Volkswagen Beetle Mariusz had rebuilt from scratch and that no family gathering would be complete again.

Pawel's family also described their loss, saying it was like a screwdriver to the heart.

"A stranger blew the candle of life, cut the path of life. He killed a good man and he destroyed the lives of his parents, sister and family."

Originally published in