TWO MEN HAVE been found guilty of the murder of Croatian national Josip Strok on a Dublin street last year.

At the Central Criminal Court today, Mark Lee (44) and Anthony Delappe (19) were found guilty by a majority verdict of 11–1 of the murder of Strok (31).

Lee, of no fixed abode, and Delappe, of Melrose Avenue, Clondalkin had both pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Strok.

Connor Rafferty (21), of Castlegrange Close, Clondalkin had pleaded not guilty to Strok’s murder.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict in respect of the murder charge against Rafferty.

All three pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Strok’s friend, David Druzinec (29), at the same location.

The jury heard that on 30 March 2024, Mark Lee was told of an alleged assault on a teenage boy at a bus stop near his home in Clondalkin and alerted the two other accused.

The prosecution said that Delappe and Lee then followed Strok and Druzinec and assaulted them in the street.

Strok died four days later from blunt force injuries sustained in the attack.

Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the jury that Lee had used his feet and fists to kick, stamp and punch Strok.

Delappe, he said, had used “brutal” force in repeatedly striking Strok with a hard plastic pickaxe handle.

Rafferty, he said, joined in by striking Strok three times with one half of a crutch after Strok had stopped moving.

In his garda interviews Rafferty described giving Strok two or three “light smacks on the back”.

After the jury delivered their verdicts, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring told the six men and six women they were excused from jury duty for the next nine years.

She said the jury had performed “a hard job, a thankless job,” adding that she was grateful for their attendance in court over the last number of weeks of the trial.

Lee and Delappe were remanded in custody to November 17 next for sentencing.

Rafferty was remanded on bail to appear on the same date.