Two men – Jospi Strok and David Druzinec – working in Ireland, attacked for what appears to be no reason at all – apparently they weren’t speaking English.
But note that the father of Josip Strok has heard nothing from the authorities about his son’s death:
Josip Strok RIP and David Druzinec
“I can’t believe that no one from the Dublin higher authorities or the Irish embassy ever called or said anything to me about my loss. It was just Irish ordinary people.”
David Druzinec speaking on “Prime Time” to Irish broadcaster RTÉ
As bad is the initial response of the gardai as reported.
On Easter Sunday, after he [Druzinec] was discharged from hospital, he spent most of the day travelling around with the gardaí trying to re-trace their route.
RTÉ journalist Oonagh Smyth, David Druzinec and Nedjelkjo Strok
He feels gardaí initially appeared reluctant to investigate the attack as a hate crime. He pointed out that it clearly wasn’t motivated by theft.
“If they wanted to take money from us, we would have wallets missing, we would have money missing. We didn’t,” he said.
And:
David believes that gardaí thought that he and Josip were involved with drugs.
David’s phone was not returned to him for two days, and he says he was asked questions about drugs and whether he owed people money.
“After they went through my phone, after they realised things, then they also started to believe that it is the reason which I said it is,” he said.
“Both me and Josip never took any drugs in our life, not even thinking about that. That was not a problem. I didn’t borrow money from nobody, never, because I worked really hard and have a lot of work hours there, so I had my own financial status pretty good. Josip was as well.”
It gets worse:
The loss of Josip wasn’t the only hardship at the time. He felt completely abandoned in Dublin.
Later, on Easter Sunday, as Mr Druzinec was being dropped home he found “locks on the house, and that my things are outside.” In a bad way with his injuries, he now found himself homeless.
He understands it was because of fear about what had happened. He ended up in the city centre.
“I was walking around, searching for a hostel. If you come full-covered with blood, all damaged, if you will come to a hotel or hostel or anywhere, who will accept you?”
Mr Druzinec managed to contact a friend who was working in a hostel in the city and stayed two nights in Dublin, before Josip’s dad, Nedjeljko, came to Dublin and got them a place to stay together.
Given what has manifested in this state in the past year or two the reluctance of the police to accept that this was likely a hate crime, to not contact the family of Strok, to appear unwilling to engage is quite something. It is difficult to believe that were these US or British citizens they would face quite the same sort of response, or lack of same. Is it that these are ordinary workers? That the gardai can’t face up to the reality of racist and xenophobic discourse tipping into actions? Something else?
Blog Post by Gino Kenny TD, People Before Profit, Dublin Mid-West :
Deputy Kenny Demands Action Against Landlord For Illegal Eviction Of Attack Victim David Druzinec
RTÉ’s Primetime programme last night broadcast an interview with David Druzinec, attack victim and friend of murdered Josip Strok. David and Josip, both from Croatia, were attacked by a group of men for not speaking English. Josip died from his injuries four days after the attack. David suffered very serious injuries but survived and is recovering. In last night’s programme David spoke about how he was treated by the Gardaí and his landlord in the immediate aftermath of the anti-foreigner hate crime attack three weeks ago.
People Before Profit TD for Dublin Mid West Gino Kenny said “I was shocked by the revelations from David, Josip Strok’s friend, on last night’s RTÉ Primetime programme. His treatment by the Gardaí was shameful and his landlord who evicted him after the attack acted illegally and must be held to account”.
“On last night’s programme, David and Josip’s father expressed frustration that the Gardaí appeared reluctant to treat the attack as a hate crime despite the clear evidence. The Gardaí seemed determined to find other, unfounded reasons for the attack. We need answers from the Gardaí on how they conducted their investigation and their reluctance to treat it as the hate crime that it clearly was”.
Deputy Kenny said “The landlord who evicted David onto the street acted illegally and must be held to account for his appalling actions. When David returned home from hospital the landlord had changed the locks on his home and put his personal belongings outside, leaving him grieving, injured and now homeless. How could anyone treat a victim of an attack like this in such a way? The landlord’s actions were illegal and this must be acted upon and the landlord held to legal account”.
“I raised the hate crime attack on Josip and David in the Dáil on Wednesday. Given last night’s revelations, I will raise the matter in the Dáil again next week to demand action on the conduct of the Gardaí and landlord”.
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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