Man charged with murder over fatal Balbriggan hit-and-run, inquest hears
Seán McCárthaigh
An individual has been charged with the murder of a Roma man killed in a hit-and-run road traffic collision in Balbriggan last year, an inquest has heard.
Marcel Rostas (33), a married father of three, died on Railway Street in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, on June 24th, 2025 after being struck by a vehicle which failed to remain at the scene.
A black saloon car observed in the area at the time was later abandoned following a collision with another vehicle on Drogheda Street, Balbriggan, shortly after the fatal incident, which occurred at around 9pm.
At the opening of an inquest into the death of Rostas at Dublin District Coroner’s Court, a brother of the deceased gave evidence of formally identifying his brother’s body to gardaí at the Dublin City Mortuary in Whitehall.
The coroner, Cróna Gallagher, said the results of a postmortem showed Rostas had died from multiple traumatic injuries due to a road traffic collision.
At the time of the incident, gardaí had to appeal to members of the public not to post images and video footage of the scene on social media platforms.
Detective Inspector Brian Downey applied for an adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 (2) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings had been initiated in relation to the circumstances of Rostas’ death.
Det Insp Downey told the coroner that a person had been charged with the deceased’s murder on the direction of the DPP and an individual is currently before the courts.
A Romanian national, Daniel Rostas (42) of Hastings Green, Balbriggan, who is not related to the deceased, appeared before Dublin District Court two days after the fatal incident when he was originally charged with assault causing serious harm to Mircea Rostas, contrary to Section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
The court heard the accused made no reply after being charged at Balbriggan Garda station.
The evidence before the inquest shows the Garda inquiry was subsequently updated to a murder investigation.
Dr Gallagher adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed following the conclusion of related criminal proceedings.
