Larisa Serban hid the fact her 'violent' partner 'was beating her', father tells murder trial jury
Fiona Magennis
The father of a woman who died after she was stabbed to death in her own home has told a jury his daughter would hide the fact that her partner “was beating her” and when he saw her “black in the face” she would claim to have fallen.
The jury also heard on Tuesday that Daniel Blanaru (37), who denies murdering Larisa Serban, told her parents that one day he would kill her and that they would “hear about” it.
Mr Blanaru, from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his Ms Serban (26) at Rathmore, Co Meath on or about August 12th, 2022.
Giving evidence to prosecution counsel Eilis Brennan SC on Tuesday through a Romanian interpreter, Larisa’s father Ronet Serban confirmed he had told gardaí that he had advised Larisa to “get rid” of Mr Blanaru. He told counsel today that this was because the accused was “violent”.
Mr Serban said that in the weeks before his daughter died, he remembered Mr Blanaru making a threat in relation to Larisa.
“I recall that he said one day she will lose everything, like the money, the house and the children,” he said. “That one day he will kill Larisa. That we will hear about that”.
Mr Serban said he didn’t take the threat seriously at the time. He said the accused then immediately changed the subject.
The witness said he and his wife were aware that Larisa cared about Mr Blanaru and would not allow them to say, “anything bad about him”. He said the couple knew that Mr Blanaru “was violent” and that the police were involved.
During cross-examination, Mr Serban told defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha that his daughter loved Daniel Blanaru and that this was the reason “that she was hiding that he was beating her”.
Mr Ó Lideadha put it to the witness that he may have heard about this, but he didn’t see it. Mr Serban said he saw that his daughter “was black in the face” but that she would say that she had fallen and “hit her face”.
Asked if he accepted that this had not been mentioned in his statement to gardaí, Mr Serban said the statement had been given soon after his daughter had died. “We were desperate, and I didn’t remember that,” he said.
In her evidence to the court on Tuesday Larisa’s sister, Sarah Serban told Ms Brennan she had advised Larisa to break up with Daniel Blanaru. She said this was because her sister was always complaining about the fights between the couple and Mr Blanaru’s “jealousy” and “possessiveness” of her.
“So my advice was to leave him,” she said, going on to confirm that the accused’s jealousy was “a very big problem”.
The witness said Mr Blanaru was always accusing Larisa of “having affairs with someone else”, wouldn’t allow her to have friends and was always “kind of possessive”.
She confirmed to counsel that Larisa was always loyal to Daniel and the only time she saw someone else was when they broke up for a period of two months.
