A man who took humiliating photos of his friend before beating him to death has been jailed for manslaughter. Airidas Janavicius, 39, killed dad-of-two Marius Lakavicius in an apparently motiveless attack before making up a lie that he had been attacked by a gang.
Appearing today at Snaresbrook Crown Court (Monday, May 23), he was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to manslaughter and perversion of justice. He escaped a murder conviction after it was agreed that he had not meant intend to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Marius, 44, who he had struck in the face at least seven times.
Marius’ grieving wife was in court to see her husband’s killer sentenced. In a heart-breaking statement she said: “I’ve lost the person I was totally in love with and who I planned to spend my life with. You took my children’s dad, a very much loved dad.”
READ MORE: ‘My daughters were brutally murdered in a Wembley park but things somehow got even worse’
On July 23, 2021, the pair went to the pub after finishing work at a construction site before going to Janavicius’ house on Burdetts Road in Dagenham at around 8pm. Janavicius introduced Marius to the neighbour as a ‘friend from work’ while they smoked in his garden, Prosecutor Michelle Nelson told the court.
A short time later the neighbour saw the pair fighting in the street with Janavicius on top of Marius punching him in the face. The neighbour had to intervene by pulling Janavicius off Marius. By 10pm Janavicius was humiliating Marius, who was very drunk, by taking a photo of him covered in blood without an trousers on.
CCTV evidence played in court showed that at around 10.30pm Janavicius dragged Marius across the road to Goresbrook Park. Harrowing footage showed how Marius was barely able to stand but tried to grab on to a railing to prevent his killer from taking him into the park. While in the park Janavicius was seen to raise his hand to Marius’ face a further seven times.
When a pair of dog walkers saw Marius lying on the floor in the park, Janavicius told them: “He drank too much.” After moving Marius’ car closer to the park Janavicius phoned an ambulance. Paramedics found Marius wasn’t breathing and had severe swelling to his face. Despite their best efforts he was pronounced dead at 12.45am with a post-mortem giving the cause of death as head injuries.
When police question Janavicius he began to lie. Judge Martyn Ziedman told the court: “The defendant claimed they were attacked six to eight Black men. This was a lie that was repeated several times.” This story fell apart when police found pools of blood around his house and as well as CCTV footage. After initially denying murder, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Prior to the sentencing, an emotional victim impact statement was read on behalf of Marius’ wife of 26 years. She told the court he was a hard-working carpenter who moved to the UK from Lithuania 19 years ago to build his family a better life. She said their two young sons idolised their dad, describing to the court how he would put on voices of characters as he read to them each night.
Giving her opinion on the sentence her husband’s killer deserved, she said nothing can compare to the life sentence of grief their family face. “I wonder if the defendant would be ready to die painfully with clenched fists after death,” s he said: “When he left so suddenly and in such a tragic way I felt like my heart was ripped out of my body. I feel like the person I was when I was with him also died that day.”
Speaking in his defence, Zafar Ali QC told the court: “Marius was one of his fellow countrymen, they were friends. The fact of the mater is that this was a fight between two very drunk men that tragically ended in a man’s death. There is no doubt that he feels massive remorse. He told me that he will never drink a drop of alcohol again.”
Judge Ziedman told him: “Because of your violent actions that were of a persistent nature another human being has lost his life.” Appearing in the dock, Janavicius was jailed for 12 years with Marius’ widow in attendance.
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