A man who meted out a \u201cvolley of violence\u201d on a defenceless \u201cdrunken bowsie\u201d in response to his mother being insulted with lewd requests for sex has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.<\/p>\n
In an impact statement, the two brothers of victim Juris Kokenbergs told the Central Criminal Court<\/a> on Friday that the worst experience of their lives was looking into their elderly parents\u2019 eyes to tell them they had lost a son.<\/p>\n Watching their mother and father saying goodbye \u201cto their firstborn son was the most heartbreaking thing we experienced\u201d, the brothers wrote.<\/p>\n Mareks and Oskars Kokenbergs said their older brother Juris was \u201cnot perfect\u201d, but he was human. \u201cHe made mistakes as we all do but he never harmed anyone. He was kind, very generous, funny and thoughtful.\u201d<\/p>\n The court was told that the defendant, Tomas Cypas, had 55 previous convictions at \u201cthe nuisance end of criminal activity\u201d.<\/p>\n Defence counsel Brendan Grehan told the presiding judge that his client wanted to tell the Kokenbergs family that he was sorry for assaulting Juris and never meant to kill him.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, a jury convicted Lithuanian national Cypas of murdering Kokenbergs by a majority verdict of 10 to two.<\/p>\n It was the State\u2019s case that Kokenbergs died after his head was \u201cstomped\u201d on and blows \u201crained down on him\u201d during an assault by his friend Cypas.<\/p>\n In his closing speech, prosecuting barrister Conor Devally said Cypas was under no threat and had the intent to at least cause serious injury to the deceased.<\/p>\n