Friday 30 April 2010

David Curran and the killing of Marius Szwajkos and Pawel Kalite in Drimnagh

The first sign of Spring in the Irish Times letters page is usually the cuckoo calling, or some such. In real life, however, it is more likely to be when your train, on the way back from work of a bright evening, is pelted with stones by skangers. Welcome to Ireland, and Dublin in particular.

Sadly, Dublin is chock-full of skangers, and they perpetuate down the generations. If you were to ask me to go into how it happened – and I might do in another post – I’d say it’s because the Irish, in general, were encouraged down the generations to breed, pure and simple, without any further consideration.  Remember, contraceptives were banned – even in the Eighties – without a doctor’s prescription.

The other thing is the social-welfare dependent underclass we have created. Sorry, I know I’ll be called a right-winger and a neo-con for saying this, but it can’t be a good idea to reward people with housing and benefits on the basis of the number of kids they pop out. It can’t lead to responsible parenting, can it?

Let’s face it, there is a real problem here in Ireland, and we have to see why it is occurring. And you don’t have to tell me about our piss-taking, parasitic professional classes who have it all sewn up: our doctors, consultants, dentists, lawyers, bankers, politicians, publicans, teachers, gardai and all the rest. I know all that.

But how can we breed people like David Curran?  Charged in court with the murder, at the age of 17, of two Polish nationals who came to Ireland to work?  This scumbag, by his own account, spent the day in question drinking vodka from 10am, stealing a moped (which he said contained a screwdriver), “being present” when it was set alight, took 15 “tablets”, drank “six or seven” alcopops and smoked “seven cannabis joints” before ramming a screwdriver into the skulls of not one, but two, human beings that very same evening?  Two human beings who had come to this country to work.

Assuming that the toerag’s testimony is true, what kind of society have we created that produces such people?  How could he sustain his "lifestyle"?

What’s wrong with this place? 

See also Murder of Polish workers in Drimnagh, Dublin. Gombeen Nation, February 2008

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

18 comments:

Tim Johnston said...

holy shit.. I missed this one in the news..

Have had many a run-in with skangers, living in Waterford, which is full of them.
You couldn't go out for a walk, on a boat, on a bike, without some fucker throwing something at you, usually a rock.
I think it's just rampant destructiveness and probably goes back to the civil war era, but that's just my theory....

Ponyboy said...

It's not just Ireland GM - I've just spent a few days at the Supreme Court in Tasmania attending the trial of a scumbag (Daniel Joseph Williams) who, along with his "friend" (Stavros Papadopolous) cruised the streets of Hobart in search of "a bitch" to kill. An unfortunate Chinese student crossed their path and ended up being bludgeoned one third to death by a concrete block (courtesy of Papadopolous) followed by a strangulation attempt (Williams and Papadopolous) for the second third and when that didn't quite do the trick, they finished her off in the bath. This atrocity took two hours. Two hours of torture and terror for an innocent girl. The assumption is that she was raped as well of course but due to the length of time she spent immersed in a remote river the coroner was unable to confirm. There's no consolationin any aspect of this but it's reassuring to know that there are extremely good people in the world still and thank fuck they outnumber these other pieces of shit. These guys are going to jail - unfotunately Williams has only been found guilty of manslaughter and not Murder. The other one is guilty. Hopefully they piss someone off in the cell blocks - preferably a lifer who's got nothing to lose.

Anna said...

‘Apocalyptic vision - - see below from an article on Morgan Kelley, Economics professor in Irish Times 13/4/2010:
“By 2015 we will have seen what happens when jobs disappear forever . . .Ireland is at the start of an enormous, unplanned social experiment on how rising unemployment affects crime, domestic violence, drug abuse, suicide and a litany of other social pathologies.– Dec 2009 “

In late 80’s murder occurred which shocked the nation:
I’ll call the people Paula and Dave. Paula was a 20 yr old girl possibly from the North. She went to Dublin, certainly not a city she knew well, to meet an English pen pal acquaintance/ potential boyfriend. They may have been acquainted through a newspaper ad. Dave travelled from England to stay a day or 2 in Dublin to meet her. They met for a day, wandered about. Dave said they kissed, no more, as they had only met. In the evening Paula got a taxi to start her way home- Dave started on his journey as well. Next day her murdered body was found. Dave was under great suspicion-but it seems the murderer was the taxi driver. There was great shock at this as: ALL the murders then took place in Belfast- Dublin was seen as poor but Safe: Dublin was still seen as a Very safe place for 2 young people to meet on a blind date in the day time – and a taxi driver was looked upon as a safe friend. Young girls then thought little of thumbing lifts across Ireland; - if I was with friends I often even thumbed lifts across the north.
Now far more murders take place in Dublin than Belfast.
Ireland has produced a shockingly violent underclass. You can’t take away individual responsibility- but I do wonder what young people in Dublin’s worst areas have to live for – but a diet of drink and drugs.
Somehow I believe that the Insane Enrichment of our Super rich in boom years was often done by the deliberate impoverishment of once respectable working class areas- don’t forget since the 80’s Dublin had has just gained ONE new ambulance .
And they’re about to close 3 council swimming pools. So you can forget money for early school leaver programmes, sports centres, youth training, community centres, Garda patrols to stop drug dealers, drug treatment centres, probation officers, job creation etc….

anna said...

In ROI there 52 murders in 2008 – this hit the 70 person mark in 2007 :

Try this clip: Friday January 02 2009. MURDER rates in Dublin are now the sixth highest in Europe. . Latvian capital Riga was number one on the list.. The figures show Ireland has a significantly higher murder rate than most European ... The Republic had 1.59 murders per 100000 people, while England and Wales had 1.41 ...www.herald.ie ›

And this: In the 24 months since the start of 2006,Dublin’s per capita homicide rate was almost twice the national average and was higher than the European average, according to an analysis of homicide data from the Central Statistics Office and additional data compiled by this newspaper.
The Garda Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) has a homicide rate of over 3.7 per 100,000 people, out of a population of 1.9 million people.
This compares with an average homicide rate of 3 per 100,000 across the original 15 member states of the EU.
( search for this article to get the rest of the above; ThePost.ie Homicide figures hit record high 30 December 2007 By John Burke, Public Affairs Correspondent)
See Also the UK: The total number of violent offences recorded ( in the UK) compared to population is higher than any other country in Europe, as well as America, Canada, Australia and South Africa. The figures combined crime statistics for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK had a greater number of murders in 2007 than any other EU country – 927 – and at a relative rate higher than most western European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Overall, 5.4 million crimes were recorded in the UK in 2007 - more than 10 a minute - second only to Sweden. Chris Grayling, shadow home secretary, said: "This is a real damning indictment of this government's comprehensive failure over more than a decade to tackle the deep rooted social problems in the country’
( UK is violent crime capital of Europe - Telegraph2 Jul 2009 ... The figures combined crime statistics for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK had a greater number of murders in 2007 than ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/.../UK-is-violent-crime-capital-of-Europe.html )
WHY?- I am told the UK is the ONLY EU country with working poor- but SO ALSO is Ireland. BOTH COUNTRIES HAVE huge deprived under classes- which are left to fester with little official cash. And BOTH are Very good to the rich- London has one of the highest %’s of tax exile foreign millionaires- because the UK tax laws are very favourable to them.
‘As you deprive- so shall ye reap.’?

anna said...

When I was 19 I moved into my first rented home with new friends from my first permanent civil service job: I Had a life and a future: money I’d earned for holidays, driving lessons, more study, money for family and friends : an ever expanding life.
My life did not Stop when I was 19 – because I’d murdered 2 people on a night out with pals.
That was 1980, and even in the south of Ireland which Then was poorer than the North, teenagers in poor city districts Did aspire to a better life.
I Did read that that that then 17 yr old murderer from Drimanagh Was reported to be suicidal for a while after those deaths. The Only good that will ever come out of this will be if the government here takes notice of the shockingly Vicious Murderous Deprived Underclass Ireland has now- as permanent a feature as the rain.

Anonymous said...

That testimony almost defies belief.

As Viking and Ponyboy says its not only Dublin or Ireland. True, but really nobody could deny that Dublin seems to be a magnet for scangers - of every social class. The disrespect is everywhere here.

Yes GM what is it with this place?

Dakota

Anonymous said...

Anna, shocking statistics. Overall such violence, seems to be a generational phenomenon. Though I'd say this has been accelerated in the last 20 years. There has been a desensitization to violence and deviancy in the western world in that time. This in combination with the existing Irish motivational factors which encourage a deviant atmosphere - and where always there - all explain alot about present day Dublin.

Dakota

Anonymous said...

Curious thing, but I'm always a bit amazed when defendants in trials like this cite a lethal cocktail of imbibed drink and drugs as contributory factors. If I was as drunk and stoned as this guy claims to have been, I wouldn't have been able to stand up, never mind inflict two lethal stabs of a screwie through the skulls of two burly Polish builders. Hope judge and jury consider that one.

The Gombeen Man said...

@ Viking. Don't know Waterford too well... but sounds familiar alright.

@ Ponyboy. Horrible story... So at least I can see we are not unique here in Ireland. And you're right - main thing is for decent bods to win the fight against the forces of darkness...

@ Anna. Stunning figures - and scary. You're spot on too about the working poor. Nobody who works should be poor... otherwise what's the point? Thanks for the figures, too.

@ Dakota. Yes, and I can only see it getting worse, as Anna's Morgan Kelly quote predicts.

@ Anon. Couldn't agree more. Many of us might have been guilty of some excesseses while being out of it, through drink or drugs... but shoving a screwdriver through someone's head (twice)? I wouldn't be able to stand up after that lot, never mind a seventeen year old. So I don't buy his tale at all...

Anonymous said...

Why should poverty/social deprivation negate


personal responsibility?

Rabbie

Anonymous said...

here i sat in the court and well to be honest...he is far from scumbag...bit of a skanger yeah but like this guy was obviously fucked when he did this. he has been gettin suicide counciling since the incident...he's tried to kill himself...he never tried before the killings...he obviously feels bad and regrets doing what he did. he also thought that the polish guys had stabbed his dad...he was wrong obviously but you can imagine what would happen when a someone is that out of it and thinks these people stabbed their dad?? well what do you think you'd do in that situation?....not tryin to argue or anythin...just my opinion

anna said...

I know a nurse ( who trained in UK and worked in Australia): she’s in a Dublin drug treatment unit – and she says Dublin has a Far greater drugs problem then LONDON. She is Disgusted at the lack of official recognition - and says since the recession she has seen people who have been clean for 4-5 yrs, who are now using again. I also read that cocaine use is an unacknowledged killer on our roads- but here is virtually no testing for it – and No acknowledgement that drugs causes road deaths also.
Ireland slumbers on, pretending to be green and friendly- with some of the worst violence, drugs and deprivation problems in Europe.
No you can’t take away personal responsibility- but drugs more than anything ruins any lucid thinking. However even after such a shocking double murder the Government here Never asked how a 17 yr old could have devoted so much of his life to drugs: no thought of getting after the pushers, providing more youth training community centres, or even more money for Treatment Centres- if you’re a poor addict , you’re on your own—until you Either kill yourself- or Somebody else.
There was a Shocking story in IT @ Jan/feb; Northside man died at about 26 yrs old; had a drug problem since age 14: developed the drug problem from his time In MOUNTJOY AT AGE 14: he was from a respectable family but hung about with a bad crowd. He was actually jailed only for very petty anti social activities- seriously only high spirits- but our bright government ( instead of getting him a probation officer) put him in Mountjoy because a young offender place was not available*! This was where he Started on Hard Drugs ( no soft intro to them even) and his life was ruined thereafter: years in prison as he burgled to feed his habit. Before he died he told his family that he been sexually abused in early teen age (not by a family member) and that’s when the going off the rails and drugs use began to become enticing: Of course there never was even a thought when he first came before a juvenile court of trying to sort him out – so he could get his life on track.
I think you’ll find very little is done for teens / children here with psychological problems - so you can guarantee they will get worse- if they don’t harm others they will harm themselves. WWYGI?
* ( if I was his heartbroken family I’d sue the government)

anna said...

I know a nurse ( who trained in UK and worked in Australia): she’s in a Dublin drug treatment unit – and she says Dublin has a Far greater drugs problem then LONDON. She is Disgusted at the lack of official recognition - and says since the recession she has seen people who have been clean for 4-5 yrs, who are now using again. I also read that cocaine use is an unacknowledged killer on our roads- but here is virtually no testing for it – and No acknowledgement that drugs causes road deaths also.
Ireland slumbers on, pretending to be green and friendly- with some of the worst violence, drugs and deprivation problems in Europe.
No you can’t take away personal responsibility- but drugs more than anything ruins any lucid thinking. However even after such a shocking double murder the Government here Never asked how a 17 yr old could have devoted so much of his life to drugs: no thought of getting after the pushers, providing more youth training community centres, or even more money for Treatment Centres- if you’re a poor addict , you’re on your own—until you Either kill yourself- or Somebody else.
There was a Shocking story in IT @ Jan/feb; Northside man died at about 26 yrs old; had a drug problem since age 14: developed the drug problem from his time In MOUNTJOY AT AGE 14: he was from a respectable family but hung about with a bad crowd. He was actually jailed only for very petty anti social activities- seriously only high spirits- but our bright government ( instead of getting him a probation officer) put him in Mountjoy because a young offender place was not available*! This was where he Started on Hard Drugs ( no soft intro to them even) and his life was ruined thereafter: years in prison as he burgled to feed his habit. Before he died he told his family that he been sexually abused in early teen age (not by a family member) and that’s when the going off the rails and drugs use began to become enticing: Of course there never was even a thought when he first came before a juvenile court of trying to sort him out – so he could get his life on track.
I think you’ll find very little is done for teens / children here with psychological problems - so you can guarantee they will get worse- if they don’t harm others they will harm themselves. WWYGI?
* ( if I was his heartbroken family I’d sue the government)

Bock the Robber said...

Thank God for Limerick. Without it, the Dublin media would have to face up to the reality of their own city.

Personally, I think it's about garrison towns. The worst of the British army interbreeding with the worst of our locals, producing lowlife families that ultimately led to what we see today.

Anonymous said...

You could have a point there Bock,Ive seen the same disastrous cross on British council estates.
Rabbie.

Anonymous said...

@Bock the Robber, Emmm, thats interesting there might be something in that.

Dakota

Anonymous said...

[*][*][*] RIP my dearest Mariusz, it's almost 4 years.....:(

The Gombeen Man said...

May I express my deepest sympathy along with you, and my shame that my country could produce such a low-life, worthless scumbag as David Curran.