Gardaí investigating the murder of Croatian man Josip Strok, 31, and a serious assault on a man which occurred in Clondalkin, Dublin 22 on 30th March 2024, have arrested three men.
The men were arrested this morning Thursday, April 25, by Gardaí attached to the Clondalkin District and GNBCI.
All three were detained at Garda Stations in the DMR under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
Gardaí are continuing to appeal to anyone who may have information on this incident to contact them at Clondalkin Garda Station on 01 666 7600 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
On Sunday, March 31, An Garda Siochana issued a witness appeal in relation to the serious assault that took place at Grange View Way in Clondalkin on Saturday night, March 30.
Gardaí said at the time that two males - later named as Strok and his friend David Druzenic - were assaulted at approximately 10:15 pm outside a residential premises in the Grange View Way area.
Druzenic received medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. Strok was taken to Tallaght Hospital where he was pronounced dead on April 3 after being on life support.
In their initial witness appeal, Gardaí said they were particularly looking to speak with anyone who was in the Tower Road area of Clondalkin between 9:30 pm to 10:15 pm, anyone who was traveling on the number 13 bus between Clondalkin and Bawnogue between 9:45 pm and 10:15 pm, and anyone who was in the Grange View Way area of Clondalkin between 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm.
Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) are asked to make this footage available to Gardaí.
Speaking with RTÉ's Prime Time last week, more than three weeks after the traumatic attack, Druzinec said he and his childhood friend Strok had been working in Ireland for a number of years, mainly in agriculture.
On the evening of March 30, after spending the day together in Dublin City, the two men took the number 13 bus to Clondalkin where Druzinec had recently moved and made a stop at Tesco.
"I was speaking with Josip about what we will buy, what we will do tomorrow," Druzinec said.
"And then they [the attackers] started like, 'Speak bloody Irish. You disrespect our country, you bloody immigrants, things like that."
Druzinec said he and Strok did not engage. They left Tesco, taking another number 13 bus toward Druzinec's apartment.
Gardaí believe it was from there that Druzinec and Strok were followed. They were attacked at Grange View Road after they got off the bus around 10 pm.
Druzinec said he was hit from behind with something like a baseball bat and fell down unconscious.
When he came to a few minutes later, he saw the Strok still being attacked. Druzinec said he went to try to help Strok, but was hit four more times. The last thing he remembers is seeing lights from the ambulance; he woke up in the hospital the next day.
Druzinec endured fractures to his skull as well as injuries to his nose and ribs. He said doctors told him they were surprised he survived.
@rtenews A Croatian man whose friend was killed when they were both assaulted in Dublin three weeks ago, says he believes they were attacked because they were not speaking English. In his only interview with Irish media, David Druzinec told Prime Time how a group of young Irish males approached him and Josip Strok in a shop in Clondalkin. Mr Druzinec says the attack left him with seven bone fractures "through the skull, also in the nose, eyebrows and the ribs." #rtenews #primetime #dublin #croatia ♬ original sound - RTÉ News
The day after the attack, Druzinec spent most of the day traveling around with the gardaí trying to re-trace their route.
When he finally returned home to his apartment, Druzinec's landlord had changed the locks and left his belongings outside, which Druzinec believes was out of fear of what had happened. He ended up staying with a friend for a few days before Strok's father arrived in Dublin.
Druzinec felt gardai were initially reluctant to view the attack as having been motivated by anti-foreigner hatred and "wanted to connect this attack with drugs" or money. He said his and Strok's phones were checked.
"Me or Josip never took any kind of drugs in life, never thought about that," he said, adding that he never borrowed money from anyone, and that both he and Strok were financially "pretty good."
Druzinec said he has experienced similar instances of anti-foreigner behavior in Dublin.
"A lot of times it happened that I was going from the gym back to home, or things like that [and] I heard somebody saying something, maybe ‘not for the immigrants’ or things like that, just comments or something," Druzinec told RTÉ Prime Time.
"That's why I was always avoiding Dublin. I was in Galway, I was in Ennis, I was in Limerick, I was in Cork."
He added: "It's different because it happened to us two weeks ago, but this is happening a lot of times.
"That's where something needs to be changed. In the last one year, this became on so high level for these immigrants, for everything. I don't understand why."
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