Ardglass man sentenced to 11 years for ‘sustained and frenzied’ killing

Ardglass man sentenced to 11 years for ‘sustained and frenzied’ killing

26 February 2020

ARDGLASS man Jason Carr who brutally kicked a Romanian fisherman Stefan Zait to death in a “unprovoked and vicious attack” will spend a minimum of 11 years in jail.

Mr Zait died after two days in hospital from the injuries inflicted on him on May 22, 2018.

The 45 year-old had been living in Ardglass and worked on fishing boats for several years before his death — at one point alongside his killer.

Hotel worker Carr (22), of Crew Hill Court, was joined in the dock at Downpatrick Crown Court last Friday by his father, David Carr, and family friend Nicola Goulding, both from Ardglass.

David Carr (51), of Kildare Court, was sentenced to 18 months in jail, suspended for three years, after pleading guilty to intimidating and threatening Mr Zait shortly after his son’s attack.

Goulding (36), of St Joseph’s Close, received a six-month suspended sentence after admitting a charge of perverting the course of justice.

Goulding made a false statement to police that she had seen Mr Zait with a knife during the earlier part of the assault in Ardglass village.

Jason Carr pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Zait, theft, common assault and criminal damage last month.

The court heard details from prosecution counsel Peter Irvine of the horrific murder through the eyes of multiple witnesses on the morning of the attack.

Carr was first spotted walking in the village around 10.45am, “bare chested, swaying, with his arms held out wide” by a passing driver.

He spotted Mr Zait walking along the Downpatrick Road and Strangford Road junction and according to the man, he began to shout abuse and slap Mr Zait, who did not retaliate.

The court heard that Goulding intervened at this point and pulled Carr back. 

She flagged down a car driven by another woman with a male passenger, yelling at Carr: “You’re going to jail, get in.”

Carr, who was described as “aggressive” and “out of control”, got out of the car and ran off.  He then made up his way to Lighthouse Cove on the Strangford Road where he encountered Mr Zait outside the home of a friend, who lived just a few doors away from him. 

The friend said that he heard sounds of a struggle between Carr, who was known to the man, and Mr Zait outside his home. At one point, the man said Mr Zait pleaded with Carr to wait and talk with his friend. 

He said that Carr punched Mr Zait seven or eight times to the head, neck, chest and shoulder before he fell back on to a gate.

The man saw Carr grab a bottle of vodka from Mr Zait’s pocket and then heard him say, “This is my vodka now” before kicking Mr Zait to the head “with full force”. 

Carr was heard telling Mr Zait to “stay away from my mum”. The man said Mr Zait offered no resistance, other than to put his arms up to shield himself from the blows. 

A woman told of how she saw Carr gave Mr Zait “three nasty kicks to the head” while he was on the ground as well as head-butting him, while another woman said that she saw Carr headbutt, knee and punch Mr Zait and that he “kept on doing it”.

Mr Irvine said another man saw how badly injured Mr Zait was injured and rang the police and emergency services for help.

After the attack, Carr was taken to the home of his father, who then went to the scene.

Mr Irvine said David Carr threatened Mr Zait, saying: “Don’t call the police or you will get more of the same. Don’t press charges on my boy. the charges, leave my boy out of this, leave him well alone, leave my family alone.”

Mr Zait was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and underwent brain surgery that night.

However, the next day, a consultant carried out two brain stem tests and determined that Mr Zait was brain dead.

A postmortem revealed that Mr Zait had  suffered “irreversible brain damage” following two bleeds from blunt force trauma as well as developing pneumonia.

Defence counsel Gavan Duffy outlined to the court the “chaotic childhood” Jason Carr had experienced growing up with his mother, who died in January 2019, and his father, both of whom had struggled with drug dependencies.

He said Carr had suffered a personal tragedy six weeks before the attack with the accidental death of his six year-old half brother and that he spiralled into drink and drug taking.

Mr Boyd said that several witnesses told how “out of control” Carr was and appeared obviously under the influences of substances. 

It was revealed in court that Carr has been taking unprescribed Xanax and Diazepam days before the attack and had little memory of the week beforehand.

Throughout the sentencing, Carr kept his head down and broke down in tears several times.

Mr Zait’s sister, Cristina Cutlia, was in court to attend the sentencing, having travelled from her home in Spain.

Passing sentence Judge Geoffrey Millar ruled that Carr would spend 11 years behind bars and the rest of his life on licence.

He said: “This was an unprovoked and vicious attack where the blows were frenzied and sustained on a man in a weakened and defenceless position.”

He said that Mr Zait had “offered passive resistance, only raising his arms and hands to push him away. Once he was on the ground, he was unable even to do that”.

The judge added that while Mr Zait was able to be propped up against a wall and smoke a cigarette just after the attack, he was already “mortally wounded at that stage”.

However, while the judge accepted the defence contention that the murder was not racially motivated, he rejected Mr Duffy’s suggestion that Carr had no “animus” towards Mr Zait as he had assaulted him the year before. Carr had also called around to Mr Zait’s home the night before the fatal attack in an aggressive manner, causing damage to his front door.

The judge accepted that there “was a probable disturbance of mental well-

being and that Carr was impaired with alcohol and substances” in the weeks after the death of his brother.

He said that it was clear that Carr had “expressed genuine and deep remorse” for the murder and told probation services: “I think about what happened every day.”

The judge said that while it may never be known what exactly had set Carr off to attack Mr Zait, he had been concerned about Mr Zait calling into his mother’s home to drink at night at a time when she was suffering from a serious illness. 

He added that while Carr may not have gone out intending to kill Mr Zait that day, “It was clear that he intended to cause him serious harm.”

Turning to David Carr, the judge acknowledged that he took his son into police custody but while he did not show any violence to Mr Zait, he must have seen “he was in a very, very, very, bad way” at the time he threatened the victim.

The court heard that Goulding looked upon Jason’s mother as her own mother and Jason as a brother after she had been taken in by her from the age of 20. 

It was stated that Goulding had “misplaced loyalty’ to Jason Carr and lied about seeing Mr Zait with a knife in Ardglass before the murder. 

Police conducted a search at Mr Zait’s property and at the scenes but were unable to find the knife.