Murder accused told gardaí it was 'possible' he put knife into partner's chest

Ryan Dunne

A 37-year-old man accused of murdering his partner told gardaí that “it was possible” he had put a knife into her body while they were “pushing and shoving”, a jury has heard.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday heard that in Garda interview, Daniel Blanaru said Larisa Serban (26) had a knife “in her body” after they “had an argument” in their Co Meath home.

Mr Blanaru, from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Serban on or about August 12th, 2022. It is the State's case that Larisa was stabbed to death by Mr Blanaru, whom they argue was a “jealous” and "controlling" partner.

The jury viewed video footage of Mr Blanaru’s interviews in Ashbourne Garda Station on August 12th, 2022, with Detective Sergeant Robert Madden giving evidence to counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Antonia Boyle BL.

The trial has heard that Mr Blanaru told gardaí he “pushed” and “hit” Larisa during an argument after he claimed he found her having a party with her brother David Serban and another “tall guy” hours before she was found stabbed to death in her home.

During his third interview at the Garda station, the accused, speaking through a Romanian interpreter, said that Larisa told him to get out of the house, then “she went and took a knife and came towards me”.

“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," Mr 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.

He was next asked how many times he struck her with the knife, to which the accused replied: “I think it was once, when I tried to take the knife away from her hand.”

Video footage

The jury also viewed video footage of Mr Blanaru’s second interview in Ashbourne Garda Station on August 12th, 2022, with Detective Sergeant Mark Looby giving evidence to counsel for the Director of Public prosecutions, Eilis Brennan SC.

In this interview, Mr Blanaru said that he felt there was something between Larisa and the “tall guy” he said was in the house on the night she was stabbed.

He said that he last saw the knife in the hall at the entrance near the door, “where we had the argument”, adding that the knife was in Larisa’s hand.

“When I turned, I saw it in her hand, and then it wasn’t there,” Mr Blanaru told gardaí.

When asked where the knife was after that, the accused replied: “In her body, because she was holding the hand.” He went on to say that he did not see any blood.

Gardaí put it to him that he knew Larisa was stabbed in the chest, and yet he “just walked out the door and left her bleeding on the floor”. He was asked whether that was the right thing to do, to which the accused replied that it was not.

He went on to agree with a Garda assertion that what he did was “take a bag of cocaine as your wife lay bleeding on the ground”.

“You knew she was stabbed in the chest, and your reaction to that was to do a line of cocaine. There wasn’t much care to just leave her there, bleeding on the floor, to die,” said the interviewing detective.

“If you think that was the way, that was the way,” replied the accused.

Memo

After the memo of the interview was read back to the accused in the Garda station and he was asked if he wished to change anything,

Mr Blanaru replied: “I didn’t know that there was blood coming out of her.”

He also said that he wished to clarify that he took the cocaine when he first went into the house, not after the knife was in Larisa’s chest.

The jury also heard evidence from Dr Shah Rukh Khan, who told Ms Brennan that he examined the accused at Ashbourne Garda Station and found no signs of intoxication. The witness said that Mr Blanaru was fully orientated and capable of understanding why the gardaí might want to speak to him, which led Dr Khan to conclude that the accused was fit for interview.

In response to cross-examination by defence counsel, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, Dr Khan said that the gardaí had not raised any concern that the accused had not slept the night before.

Dr Khan said that it was possible that if someone goes through a process of no sleep, that can affect their understanding and their cognitive functions. He said that in Mr Blanaru’s case, there had been no concern of drowsiness or any evidence of his having a difficulty in parsing the questions put to him.

The witness went on to say that it is possible that a person can go through 24 or 48 hours of no sleep without looking drowsy.

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