A 32-year-old man has gone on trial accused of the murder of a homeless man whose body was found in Ballyboughal in Dublin.

Sebastian Barczuk, with an address at Briarwood Lawn, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 denies murdering Michal Kurek at an unknown place in August 2017.

In opening the case, the prosecuting barrister told the jury the accused man Sebastian Barczuk and the deceased man Michal Kurek were both from Poland, had become good friends and had lived together over the years.

Michal was homeless and had addiction difficulties.

On August 4th, 2017, his body was found lying face down beside a country lane in Ballyboughal in North County Dublin

His clothes were blood stained and he had suffered 60 stab wounds with evidence of blunt force trauma to the head.

The Prosecuting barrister said this is a case that relies on circumstantial evidence – he said the prosecution can’t say where, when or why the deceased was murdered.

He said analysis of the deceased’s mobile phone shows he was in contact with the accused the day before he died and that phone evidence shows the accused’s phone was in Ballyboughal that night.

Reporting from Stephanie Rohan at the Central Criminal Court