Jury takes just three hours to convict man who denied murdering his partner at their Athboy home

A jury has taken just three hours to convict a man who denied murdering his partner, despite evidence that he had beat her, threatened her parents that he would kill her and told gardai: “I am guilty, I killed her. Please lock me up.”

The trial of Daniel Blanaru (37) ran for seven weeks with an enlarged panel of 15 jurors, with a pre-trial hearing last year also lasting a number of weeks.

The 12 jurors who began their deliberations this morning accepted the prosecution case that young mother Larisa Serban (26) died as a result of a “sustained and brutal attack” at the hands of her “controlling and jealous” partner Blanaru, who murdered her “in cold blood”.

Eilis Brennan SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, suggested that Blanaru's lawyers were “throwing the kitchen sink at everything” without having “any particular plausible defence” to put before the jury.

The jury of ten men and two women at the Central Criminal Court deliberated for just three hours and two minutes before returning the unanimous murder verdict today against Blanaru.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury for their attention to detail in this matter and exempted them from further duty for 10 years.

Blanaru made no reaction as the foreman of the jury delivered the verdict.

Members of Ms Serban’s family, many of whom gave evidence during the trial, were in tears after the jury revealed their decision.

Ms Serban’s body was found in the early hours of the morning on the floor between the bedroom and the hallway of her home, having died from a stab wound to the chest.

Blanaru, from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Serban (26) at that address on or about August 12, 2022.

The jury heard Ms Serban sustained two stab wounds, one to her chest measuring 12cm which punctured the heart, lung and aorta proving fatal, and a second to her arm, the force of which fractured a bone. Her blood was found on Blanaru's clothing.

Blanaru will be sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment at a sentencing hearing on April 10 when members of the victim's family will be invited to make a statement to the court.

An enlarged jury of eleven men and four women had initially been sworn in to hear the case, a step often taken by a judge when a trial is anticipated to sit for a protracted period of time.

In her closing address to the jury, after a hearing lasting almost two months - including many hours of legal argument and days of lengthy cross-examination by the defence - Ms Brennan said this was in fact “a very simple case” which resolved itself to a few key facts.

She said Daniel Blanaru had murdered Larisa Serban “in cold blood”.

“He attacked her with a knife, he beat her, he cut her. He stabbed her with such ferocity that he severed a bone,” she said.

FAMILY EVIDENCE AND RESILED STATEMENTS

The trial heard evidence from both members of Ms Serban's family and that of Blanaru. Ms Serban’s father, Ronet Serban, told the trial that his daughter would hide the fact her partner was beating her.

He said Blanaru told her parents he would one day kill her, and they would “hear about” it.

Mr Serban told gardaí he had advised his daughter to “get rid” of Blanaru, who he knew was “violent”. Mr Serban said he saw his daughter “black in the face” but she would say she fell.

Evidence was also heard from the deceased’s mother, Georgeta Serban, who said Blanaru became “extremely possessive, paranoid, and controlling”, telling Larisa what to wear and forbidding her to wear tight clothing.

“He always said she brought a man through the window and hid him under the bed,” she said. “She never had another man, because she loved him very much, but he didn’t believe her.”

Ms Serban said that her daughter was constantly under pressure as Blanaru was always accusing her of lying and cheating, and he was “controlling her”.

“If he saw somebody speaking with her, he believed she was in a relationship with them,” she said.

A number of Blanaru’s family members told gardaí that the 37-year-old said he had stabbed Ms Serban after catching her in bed with another man. However, two of these witnesses resiled from their statements in their direct evidence to the trial. Blanaru also later confirmed when interviewed by detectives that he did not find his partner with anyone else.

Adriana Kovaciu told the trial that she was asleep in bed when her husband Leon Ciurar received a call from his brother, Daniel Blanaru at about 4am.

Ms Kovaciu said that when they heard Blanaru say that he had caught Larisa in bed with someone else and stabbed her, they quickly got dressed and drove to the house in Rathmore.

Leon went in first but when Ms Kovaciu heard him yelling Larisa's name, she followed to see what had happened.

"The first thing I saw was Larisa and I saw there was a big pool of blood," she said. "Larisa was on the ground between the bedroom and the hallway, face down." She was wearing her pyjamas and was pale, stiff and cold. Ms Kovaciu said she could tell she was dead.

She said she called emergency services and Ms Serban’s family.

The trial heard that after leaving the house in Rathmore, Blanaru drove to his sister Simona Terezia Ciurar’s house in Drogheda, arriving sometime between 3am and 4am.

Ms Ciurar told gardaí when he came to her door, Blanaru told her he “put a knife into” Ms Serban and said: ‘I killed her, I killed her, what have I done?’”

However, in her direct evidence to the trial, Ms Ciurar resiled from this statement and said she did not remember her brother using those words.

Ms Ciurar’s husband, Raul-Cosmin Tache told gardai the accused said he "beat” Ms Serban and "cut her with a knife".

While in the witness box giving evidence, however, Mr Tache said he did not know if the accused “said those things to me at that time”, although he accepted that his statements to gardaí contained these words.

Mr Tache also told gardaí: “Daniel did say to me also that when he got home, the male that was in the bed jumped out the window.”

The trial heard that Ms Ciurar, Mr Tache and Blanaru drove to a service station where they purchased phone credit and called Leon Ciurar, asking him to go to the house in Rathmore to check on Larisa.

Leon Ciurar told gardaí his brother Daniel sounded “desperate” and “panicked” when he spoke to him on the phone and told his sibling to “go quick” to his home as he "thought he had stabbed" Larisa.

“I was in pure panic when I heard this,” Mr Ciurar told gardaí.

While in the witness box, Mr Ciurar confirmed to prosecuting counsel that what he had said to gardaí was an accurate account of what happened.

"NONSENSE"

Larisa’s sister, Narcisa Serban, told the court when she went to the house in Rathmore after receiving a call from her mother asking her to go and check on her sibling. She found her sister in a “pool of blood” with “foam” at her mouth.

Narcisa went to check Larisa’s pulse but couldn’t find one and told the jury her sister’s body was “stiff”.

Under cross-examination Ms Serben was asked by defence counsel, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, if it was true that she had had a “sexual encounter” with Daniel Blanaru before he was in a relationship with Larissa. Ms Serban exclaimed and said: “Why are you asking me those things? What is it in relation to the case?”

Asked if she was aware that her husband, Marcus Cranus, had had a sexual encounter with Larisa and whether there was “mutual jealousy” between the couples, Ms Serban said: “Sorry, I don’t want to say no more here”.

Ms Serban denied a suggestion by Mr Ó Lideadha that she may be “covering up” for her husband Marcus being “involved” in the killing in some way, describing the suggestion as “nonsense”.

In his direct evidence, Mr Cranus said he and Narcisa went into the house and when they got to Larisa, he checked her pulse and “tried to push her chest” to do “cardiac massage to the heart” because he was trained in first aid. However, he could feel she was “stiff”.

Under cross-examination, Mr Cranus denied a suggestion that when he arrived at the property in Rathmore, he had carried out chest compressions even though Larisa Serban was “obviously dead” because he wanted an explanation for having “blood on his hands”.

Mr Cranus told counsel that Daniel Blanaru’s brother Leon and his wife had been the first people on the scene, followed by the gardaí, before he and his wife Narcisa had arrived.

He also told defence counsel that he never had a sexual relationship with Larisa Serban, describing the suggestion as “totally false”.

COCAINE

Larisa Serban’s brother David told the gardai that he had left her house at roughly 1am on August 12, when there was “no arguing or shouting”. Under cross-examination, he said that when he left the home, Blanaru was “doing drugs” and: “begged me to bring him cocaine.”

I told him I would go and get him cocaine, but I didn’t,” he said.

Asked by Mr Ó Lideadha if it was possible if he was there when there was a struggle, Mr Serban replied: “I feel I am being disrespected. I got there after the gardaí were on the scene.”

GARDA INTERVIEWS: "I AM GUILTY"

The jury heard Blanaru presented himself at Drogheda Garda Station at around 6am on the morning of August 12 after his sister Simona and her husband Raul advised him to go to the gardaí.

Gardaí observed Blanaru “shouting in a foreign language” and the only words that could be made out were: “My wife, my wife, we fight, we fight.”

During his interviews with gardaí, Blanaru initially said he “pushed” and “hit” Ms Serban during an argument after he claimed he found her having a party with her brother and another “tall guy”.

He said Ms Serban’s brother approached with “something in his hand” and Larisa put her hand on her chest and said “owh”.

However, Blanaru later said Ms Serban came at him with a knife but it “accidentally” went into her.

“She came towards me with the knife. I took the knife from her, when I turned with her, when I was struggling, the knife was already in my hand," Blanaru said. “She came towards me. I put my hand on the knife, struggling, but the knife was already in her body, but I didn’t know that.”

When he was asked if he had put the knife in Larisa’s body, the accused replied: “When we had the pushing and the shoving, it was possible.”

When he was asked what part of her body he had put the knife into, the accused replied: “Around here,” indicating his left hand side near the heart.

Blanaru said that a fight between him and Larisa took place in the doorway of the bedroom. He later said he had the knife in his hand and threw it down.

“I’m not sure where it went, either into the bedroom or the hallway,” he said.

He went on to tell gardaí: “I put my hand over the knife and took the knife away from her and when we were fighting and moving, I don’t know, I think I might have stabbed her.”

In his fourth and final interview, Blanaru told detectives: “I am guilty, I killed her. Please lock me up”.

He was asked what direction he threw the knife and said “down”, indicating the floor of the bedroom beside Larisa.

The jury was told that despite extensive searches, the weapon which caused Ms Serban’s fatal injury has never been located.

Detective Sergeant Mark Looby and Detective Sergeant Robert Madden, who were involved in four garda interviews with Blanaru following his arrest, were subjected to numerous days of rigorous cross-examination in the witness box by Mr O Lideadha.

Det Sgt Looby denied suggestions that he was looking for “a confession” and was asking leading questions during the interviews. He said what he was looking for was an account of what happened and what was given was a “free flowing account”.

Questioned by counsel about drink and drugs and a lack of sleep being relevant factors in deciding whether an interview process is reliable, Det Sgt Looby said gardaí would not go into an interview room if they thought someone was unfit to be interviewed. He said gardaí had sought medical advice in relation to Blanaru on more than one occasion.

He said he found the accused “alert”, “challenging” and “deflective” during interview.

Detective Sergeant Robert Madden rejected a claim by defence counsel that he had “already judged” Blanaru and decided he had committed the crime before his garda interview began.

“I was there to get an account from the suspect. With every murder investigation, we approach it with an open mind. This was his opportunity to give his account,” said Det Sgt Madden.

“He’d admitted stabbing her in the previous interview, so you had made up your mind,” said Mr Ó Lideadha.

The detective replied that if a suspect admits something, this must be corroborated with evidence. He said that Blanaru was a suspect who had to comment on the evidence put to him.

Mr Ó Lideadha asked the witness if he had been aware that any reference to the accused’s children was liable to make him upset and start crying.

Det Sgt Madden replied that he did not know if he had mentioned anything about the accused’s children, but he said that Blanaru was upset from the start of the interview.

“We were there to do a job. It’s difficult, he was upset, but someone being upset doesn’t preclude us from putting the evidence to him,” he said.

999 CALLS

The jury heard that emergency services received two 999 calls from a phone associated with Larisa Serban in the hours before she was found dead.

The first call was initiated at 1.41am, lasted nine seconds and there was no dialogue, the jury heard.

A second call lasting eight seconds was made from the same phone five minutes later. This call contained approximately two to three seconds of a female voice speaking in a foreign dialect, but what was being said was not discernible.

PATHOLOGY EVIDENCE

The court heard that a report from State pathologist Dr Heidi Okker noted the fatal stab wound to Ms Serban’s chest was 12cm deep.

The pathologist said “significant force” was used and it was not possible for Larisa to do this herself. She outlined that Larisa had suffered a fracture to the bone in her arm, which was a defensive injury.

Dr Okkers also identified linear scratches on Larisa’s hand, abrasions on the knuckles of her right hand, and scratches on her fingers. There was a small puncture wound on her upper right arm, bruising to her legs, and abrasions on the right leg.

Dr Okkers said that all bruising was fresh and recent and there was an injury to the back of the head consistent with a hard impact against a flat surface. Dr Okkers said that all these wounds were defensive, while two stab wounds were consistent with a significant use of force.

Forensic scientist Dr Yvonne O’Dowd said she examined the accused’s clothing and found a blood stain near the waist area of a t-shirt which had a DNA profile that matched Larisa’s.

There was a small blood stain on Blanaru's shorts that contained a mixed DNA profile, with the accused, Larisa and a third contributor found.

CLOSING SPEECHES

In her closing speech, Ms Brennan said there could be no doubt from the evidence that Ms Serban suffered “a sustained and brutal attack”.

She urged the jury not to get distracted by some of the “fanciful theories” floated by the defence and suggested the evidence in the case “all points one way”.

Counsel said Blanaru had stabbed the deceased in the chest, puncturing her lung and her heart, going through both sides of her aorta. Ms Serban had numerous “defensive injuries” while Daniel Blanaru had “barely a nick on him”.

Ms Brennan said this “murderous attack” did not come out of the blue and had been “simmering for some time”.

Counsel said Blanaru appeared to be relying on three alternative defences, the first of which was that he did not accept that he killed Larisa Serban and that “possibly it was someone else”.

She said the second, based on what he told gardaí, was that there was a struggle where Ms Serban “came at him” with a knife and accidentally the knife “went into her”.

Counsel said it was her understanding that the third defence was that the deceased came at Blanaru with a knife, and he was “trying to protect himself”.

Ms Brennan suggested that a “very high degree of mental gymnastics” was needed to reconcile each defence.

There appeared to be an element of “throwing the kitchen sink at everything” without having “any particular plausible defence” to put before the jury, she said.

Mr Ó Lideadha urged the jury to look at all the facts and decide this case “in accordance with the evidence” rather than on “policy or prejudice or pre-conceived notions”.

In his closing address, Mr Ó Lideadha said the implications of the possibility of the involvement of somebody else was “simply not addressed”.

There was no suggestion of any blood on Blanaru's hands or under the nails, counsel said, and no blood in his car.

Counsel said all the objective independent evidence pointed to the likelihood that Daniel Blanaru did not inflict the fatal wound.

However, he said if the jury, having considered all the evidence, found that Blanaru did inflict the fatal wound, they then had to look at the “concrete, independent evidence” on the question of accident and the question of self-defence, he said.

He contended that the stab wound that caused Ms Serban’s death could have occurred accidentally or because the accused was acting in self-defence.

In her legal directions to the jury, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said Blanaru had pleaded not guilty to murder and in his defence, the defendant did not accept that he killed Larisa Serban. She said he also had raised the issue of accident and further raised self-defence.

She told the jury that there were “inconsistencies” in the defences Blanaru raised.

She said if they found it was an accident they must acquit.

In relation to self-defence, she said if a person honestly believes it is necessary to protect themselves, they are entitled to use force to defend themselves. In defending themselves, however, the person must only use such force as is reasonable, she said.

She told the jury that if they were satisfied that Blanaru did not have that honest belief then he was not entitled to the defence of self-defence.

“If you are satisfied on the totality of the evidence that he [Blanaru] killed Larisa Serban, that it was not accident, that it was not self-defence then the issue of murder is made out,” she said.