A 65-year-old man from Ukraine has today been charged in connection with a fatal assault on another man in a hotel being used for asylum accommodation in Dundrum, Co Tipperary last week.
Ivan Volkov, with an address at House 2, Holm Oak Cottages, Dundrum House Hotel, appeared before a special sitting of the district court in Newcastlewest today, charged with assault causing harm to Shamil Nabiev (69), from Azerbaijani.
Mr Nablev was assaulted in Dundrum House Hotel on 25 February last, and died a number of days later.
Garda Pat Ahern of Tipperary Town Garda Station said that when Mr Volkov was charged with assault he replied, through a Ukrainian interpreter: “I didn’t attack. I was defending myself”.
The Ukrainian national was also charged with affray. He appeared in court on crutches, and the judge heard there was no objection to bail.
His solicitor, Philip English requested an independent post-mortem examination be carried out on Mr Nabiev “given the victim has died in this case’, the Irish Examiner reported.
Mr Volkov will receive free legal aid and was remanded to Limerick Prison to appear again before the district court in Nenagh on 6 March.
Since July 2022, the Tipperary village of Dundrum has been home to upwards of 250 Ukrainian refugees, residing in the Dundrum House Hotel, Tipperary Live reported last year.
It is one of the largest centres for refugees in Tipperary.