15-05-2025
Inquest into death of Polish man adjourned for 14th time
Gardaí in Cork have thanked the city coroner for his patience and understanding as they sought a fourteenth adjournment of the inquest into the death of a man killed in front of his wife and children almost seven years ago, so that gardaí can get instructions on a murder file from the DPP.
Sergeant Fergus Twomey told Cork City Coroner's Court that the inquest into the death of Polish national, Mikolaj Will had been first opened on 1 November 2018 when evidence of identification and of the cause of Mr Wilk's death were laid before the court.
Mr Wilk, a Polish national worked as a landscape gardener. He was attacked by up to five masked men armed with machetes when they burst into his home, the Bridge House at Maglin near Ballincollig around 3am on 10 June 2018.
Mr Wilk was repeatedly hacked in front of his wife, Elzbieta, who sustained serious slash injuries to her face, neck and hands as she sought to protect her husband.
The couple's two children, who were both under six years of age at the time, were uninjured in the incident.
A woman in her 30s, who was renting a room from the Wilks, managed to flee through a window at the rear of the house and ran to a nearby house to raise the alarm and gardaí responded finding Mr Wilk in a critical condition.
Gardaí and HSE paramedics worked to try and stabilise Mr Wilk's condition before he was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital, where despite the extensive and horrific nature of his injuries, he survived for two hours before losing his fight for life.
Re-opening the case today, Sgt Twomey said that the inquest had been mentioned 14 times including today since 1 November 2018 and he thanked Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn for his "patience and understanding" but he could now confirm that a file on the murder had been sent to the DPP.
"This was a mammoth investigation with thousands of tasks and inquiries both within the State and in European countries with assistance from other police forces and a comprehensive investigation file has been forwarded to the DPP seeking directions."
He said that as a consequence he was seeking another adjournment under Section 25 of the Coroner's Act 1962 to have the inquest adjourned until 15 November for mention to allow investigators to wait for the DPP's directions.
Mr Comyn said that it was evident from what Sgt Twomey said that gardaí had made progress in their investigation into the murder of Mr Wilk and as a result he was willing to adjourn the matter to allow gardaí obtain directions from the DPP on the case.
"I know this case dates from 2018 but I note that there has been a lot of work done by An Garda Síochána in the investigation and they have now forwarded a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions so I'm happy to adjourn it," he said, adjourning the matter until 15 November.
A Garda Family Liaison Officer has been keeping Mr Wilk's wife, Elzbieta informed of developments. She and her children returned to Poland in June 2018 following the murder of her husband.
