Murder accused caught partner in bed with someone else and stabbed her, court hears

Eoin Reynolds

A man accused of murdering his partner was overheard telling his brother on the phone that he "caught her in bed with someone else" and that he "stabbed her", the Central Criminal Court has heard.

On Thursday, Adriana Kovaciu told the trial of Daniel Blanaru (37), who denies murdering Larisa Serban, that she was asleep in bed when her husband Leon Ciurar received a call at about 4 am.

She overheard some conversation before the voice of the accused, who is Leon's brother, came on the phone.

Ms Kovaciu, speaking through a Romanian interpreter, told prosecution counsel Eilis Brennan SC that when they heard Mr Blanaru say that he had caught Larisa in bed with someone else and stabbed her, they quickly got dressed and drove from their home in Ballivor, Co Meath to the house in Athboy where the accused and Ms Serban lived.

When they arrived, the door to the house was half open. 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, the witness said and was pale, stiff and cold. Ms Kovaciu said she could tell she was dead.

Leon checked for a pulse but couldn't find one while Ms Kovaciu called emergency services and members of Ms Serban's family. When Leon turned Ms Serban over, the witness could see a cut on her chest.

Mr Blanaru was not present but Ms Kovaciu spoke to the accused on a video call. She said she yelled at him and pointed the camera at Ms Serban to "show him what he did". She said he told her not to show him but she "showed him anyway and that's when he started yelling".

Ms Kovaciu also recalled that about two weeks earlier, Ms Serban was upset following a fight with Mr Blanaru. She had a bruise on her elbow and she was scared, the witness said.

Daniel Blanaru, from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 26-year-old Ms Serban, his partner and mother of his two children, at Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath on or about August 12th, 2022.

Under cross-examination, Ms Kovaciu told defence senior counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha that it was a stressful and upsetting situation and she couldn't remember exactly every word that was said.

She accepted that in her original statement to gardaí, she had quoted Mr Blanaru as saying: "I caught Larisa in bed cheating on me and I put a knife into her."

Counsel suggested that it might be possible the accused had in fact used words to suggest that he wasn't sure if he had stabbed Ms Serban but believed he might have. The witness replied: "Maybe."

In her opening address earlier this week, Ms Brennan told the jury that Ms Serban was found in the early hours of August 12th, 2022, on the floor between the bedroom and the hallway in her home in Rathmore having died from a stab wound to the chest.

It is the prosecution's case that Mr Blanaru stabbed Ms Serban and that in doing so he intended to kill or cause serious injury to her. Ms Brennan said the couple had a "turbulent" relationship, and that Mr Blanaru was jealous and controlling.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and an enlarged jury of eleven men and four women.