Drug dealer who stabbed man to death in broad daylight guilty of murder by unanimous verdict

A man has been convicted of murder following a fatal stabbing in Longford town centre. Rihards Lavickis, aged 26, with an address at Annaly Court in Longford, was found guilty by unanimous verdict at the Central Criminal Court on a charge of murdering Akadiusz Czajkowski outside Longford Shopping Centre on 1st November 2016. The jury deliberated for just over three hours. Lavickis had initially pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. This was his second trial for the offence, as a previous jury had failed to reach a verdict. Evidence presented showed that Lavickis pursued the deceased with a knife and stabbed him three times. A post-mortem examination determined that a single stab wound to the heart proved fatal. The court heard that tensions between the men stemmed from a drug debt and a series of incidents involving threats and property damage. Mr Justice Michael White imposed the mandatory life sentence. The victim's mother provided an impact statement describing the psychological devastation caused by her son's death.