Man found guilty of murdering his partner (26) in Co Meath

Fiona Magennis

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 gardaí: “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. The 12 who began their deliberations on Tuesday 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 on Tuesday 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.

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 12th, 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.