A Georgian asylum seeker has been jailed for 18 months and ordered to leave Ireland on his release from prison over an incident in which he stabbed another resident of a direct provision centre last year.
Ramazi Nakhutsrishvili, a 40-year-old married father-of-two, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm on another man outside the former Bray Manor nursing home on Meath Road, Bray, Co Wicklow on 6 August 2023.
The accused, who is a native of Georgia, also pleaded guilty to possession of a knife contrary to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act which he waved in the direction of another resident who had intervened as “a good Samaritan”.
Detective Garda Niamh Lacey told a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court that the incident occurred after a row broke out among a group of asylum seekers sitting at a table outside the former nursing home.
Det Garda Lacey said the accused first hit his victim with his fist and then produced a knife and started chasing after the man who had run away.
CCTV footage showed Nakhutsrishvili pursuing another man out onto Meath Road in an incident which lasted around ten minutes.
The court heard that the victim was stabbed a number of times by the accused including once to the left side of his neck.
Det Garda Lacey said the injured man was brought to St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin where he required stitches and staples to treat at least five clear puncture wounds to his body.
In a victim impact statement, the man said he feared for his life and was off work for two months with his injuries.
He called for the accused to be treated with the full severity of the courts for the physical and psychological damage he had suffered.
Det Garda Lacey said Nakhutsrishvili was arrested at the scene and made admissions about the offences.
She told counsel for the DPP, James Kelly BL, that a group of asylum seekers from Georgia from the direct provision centre had gone to the beach in Bray earlier that afternoon to mark the death of a relative who had died back in their homeland.
Det Garda Lacey said the accused believed his victim was rude and ignoring him while he tried to toast the deceased person and they had become embroiled in a physical fight which fizzled out.
However, she explained that the row erupted again when the group had returned to the direct provision centre as Nakhutsrishvili believed someone had insulted his mother.
Counsel for the accused, Justin McQuade BL, said Nakhutsrishvili had left Georgia due to low wages and had not seen his family in two years.
Mr McQuade said he had travelled to Ireland via France and had destroyed his passport on the airplane.
The court heard Nakhutsrishvili, who has no previous convictions, had been working on a building site and earning €700 per week.
He was also prepared to offer €1,500 in compensation to his victim which Mr Kelly claimed was “an insult.”
Nakhutsrishvili told the court he was asked to leave Bray Manor following the incident and had stayed with an uncle before moving into rented accommodation in Malahide.
Mr McQuade explained that the insult directed at the accused’s mother was considered “a particular slur” in Georgian culture where the man was supposed to kill the person who had insulted his mother.
The barrister said Nakhutsrishvili blamed alcohol for the original fist fight which broke out on the beach but accepted he had later carried out an extreme reaction for which he expressed remorse.
The court heard the Georgian army veteran came to Ireland for “economic reasons” and had applied to remain in the jurisdiction on humanitarian grounds.
Judge Terence O’Sullivan described the accused as “an economic migrant” who had carried out a very serious offence during a prolonged incident in a residential area.
“It could have resulted in significant harm,” the judge observed.
He added: “The cultural difference does not cut any ice with me.”
Sentencing Nakhutsrishvili to two years in prison, Judge O’Sullivan suspended the final six months on condition that he leave the jurisdiction within six months on his release and not return to Ireland for a period of five years.
