Murder accused told gardaí he 'hit' partner hours before she was found dead

Fiona Magennis

A murder accused told gardaí that he “pushed” and “hit” his partner during an argument after he claimed he found her having a party with her brother and another “tall guy” hours before she was found stabbed to death in her home, a trial has heard.

During his first interview with gardaí, Daniel Blanaru also told officers that the person who “made a mistake” on the night was his partner because, “she should have the respect for me as a man".

Mr Blanaru (37), from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his partner, Larisa Serban (26) at their home on or about August 12th, 2022.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court on Monday viewed portions of a video recording of Mr Blanaru’s first interview in Ashbourne Garda Station with Detective Sergeant Mark Looby and Detective Garda Padraig O’Rourke on August 12th, 2022.

In the interview, Mr Blanaru, speaking through a Romanian interpreter, told the detectives that he had been at a party in Navan the previous night, getting home at around midnight.

He said when he got to his house, Larisa was there with her brother David and “a tall guy”.

Argument

Mr Blanaru said he asked what was going on and Ms Serban said they were having a party. He said there was cocaine on the table and he asked his wife: “Why are you doing this in our house and why are you allowing those things to happen?”

Mr Blanaru said Larisa’s brother came to him and the two men “had an argument”.

He said he told his partner’s brother: “You should have a bit of respect.”

Mr Blanaru then told gardaí: “The person who made a mistake is my wife. She should have the respect for me as a man.”

He said he told David to get out of the house and then Larisa told Mr Blanaru to leave.

“And I ask her what do you mean for me to get out of my own house? I said let them get out of my house,” said Mr Blanaru. “We kind of try to push each other and tall guy separated us.”

He said he then argued with his wife asking her: “Who is this guy? If he is here at the party where is his partner?” before telling Larisa that, “this means that you [are] with this guy”.

Mr Blanaru said they then told him they would call 999 if he wouldn’t get out of the house.

He continued: “I know that I pushed her. I know that I hit her. And then the tall guy tried to get between us, and I asked the tall guy ‘why are you getting involved you have no right to get between us?’.”

He said Ms Serban’s brother then got in between the couple and told Mr Blanaru to get out.

“She told me if I won’t get out of the house she is going to call the police. And I said you see what you are doing you throw me out of the house,” he said.

Facebook call

The accused then said he went to Drogheda and from there he called Larisa’s Facebook but she didn’t answer.

“And then I called my brother to go and see what’s happening there,” he said.

Mr Blanaru told gardaí he then went to Drogheda Garda Station and from that point “I didn’t know anything else”. He said his solicitor and gardaí informed him that Larisa was dead.

Prosecution counsel Eilis Brennan SC then read a portion of the memo of interview in which Mr Blanaru was asked about the party in Navan he said he had attended.

The accused told gardaí it had been a “gypsy party” and took place at a property in the centre of town.

Asked about the “tall guy” he said was in the house with Larisa and her brother when he got home, Mr Blanaru said the man was tall with white coloured skin, black hair and a moustache. He said the man was Romanian but “not gypsy”.

During questioning, Mr Blanaru said he first met Larisa in Carrickmacross at the end of 2016 having first interacted on Facebook when he had a phone for sale. “That’s how we started talking and meeting,” he said. Asked if the couple were married, Mr Blanaru said “not legally” going on to tell the detectives that he and Larisa had received a “blessing” in the Pentecostal Church.

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