Murder accused's partner feared revenge

A woman testified at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday that she feared reprisals from associates of a man fatally stabbed in Longford in 2016. Inita Rozkalne, partner of the accused, told the jury she believed friends of the deceased would seek revenge following the incident at Townspark on November 1st. She described an earlier violent confrontation in which her partner was assaulted by the deceased and another man, and recalled windows at their Annaly Court home being broken repeatedly in the months preceding the stabbing. A defence witness, a neighbour and friend of the accused, testified that the deceased had made threats hours before the window damage occurred. The witness also stated he disposed of a knife used in the incident, subsequently recovered by gardaí near Longford Town football stadium. Rihards Lavickis, aged 25, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Akadiusz Czajkowski, 31. His guilty plea was rejected and the trial continues before Justice Una Ní Raifeartaigh.