Man (22) who drove Mahamud Ilyas’s killers to woods to dump body attacked in prison, court hears

Fiona Magennis

A 22-year-old man who drove the killers of a young footballer to a wooded area in Co Meath - where they left the victim for dead after he stole €6,000 worth of stolen cannabis - has been attacked in prison, labelled “a rat,” and placed in 23-hour protective custody, a defence barrister told the Central Criminal Court.

Michael Lynn SC said Lorenzo Cantaragiu’s time in prison has been “particularly difficult” and there have been threats to him and his family. He said the way his client is now “suffering” in prison was attributable in part to the fact that he went to the guards and provided assistance to them.

“He reports that he was attacked two days ago,” Mr Lynn told the court during a sentencing hearing on Friday for Cantaragiu and co-accused Robert Burns. “You will see on his forehead and the top of his nose marks and bruising. He says he has repeatedly been accused, before going into isolation, of being a rat.”

Mr Lynn said Cantaragiu is currently on protection in prison and is in isolation for 23 hours a day.

Cantaragiu, of Castlegrange Park, Blanchardstown, had pleaded not guilty to four charges of impeding the prosecution or apprehension of Mahamud Ilyas’s murderers, Viorel Doroscan (23) and Otniel Richardo Clejan (24), but was unanimously convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury in May.

During the trial, the court heard that Doroscan and Clejan beat Mr Ilyas by stamping on him, kicking him, and striking his head with a hammer at an apartment in Blanchardstown in Dublin after he stole a bag of drugs estimated to be worth €6,000. They then tied his hands and feet and wrapped his body in a duvet.

Cantaragiu drove the two killers to Belgree Lane in Meath with Mr Ilyas in the back and later cleaned blood from the back seat before selling the car. Gardaí discovered Mr Ilyas’s body the day after the murder following a tip-off from a member of the public.

Co-accused, Robert Burns (59), who lived at the apartment in Verdemont where the assault took place, pleaded guilty just over a week into the trial to impeding the arrest or prosecution of Doroscan and Clejan by cleaning Mr Ilyas's blood from the carpet and walls.

Doroscan, of Bay Meadows Square, Hollystown, West Dublin, and Clejan, with a former address at Verdemont, Blanchardstown, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ilyas on December 9th, 2022. A jury convicted them of murder by unanimous verdict earlier this year, and they were both sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment on June 23rd.

In a Victim Impact Statement read out a sentencing hearing for her son’s murderers, Muna Ali, the mother of the deceased described Mr Ilyas as a good son and a lovely young man who had "high hopes for a career in football".

Mr Lynn told the court today that Cantaragiu went to the guards and when they asked him to drive the route he had taken with the killers he did so, providing assistance in what were “very, very difficult and scary circumstances”.

The barrister said his client was 19 years old at the time and “knew nothing about what was going on”. Cantaragiu thought he was going to provide a lift, counsel said, but was confronted with a different scenario and ended up “in the situation he is in”.

He said there had been evidence that Cantaragiu believed Doroscan and Clejan would keep Mr Ilyas alive because they wanted to recover a debt.

Mr Lynn said when his client “realised the gravity” of the situation “he didn’t see the plan through, he abandoned them”.

“This is someone, in my submission, at the very, very lowest end in terms of mental awareness,” he added.

Mr Lynn said his client shouldn’t have sold the car but said when Cantaragiu “came to his senses” he contacted gardaí and provided phone numbers and whatever else was necessary to recover the vehicle.

Cantaragiu has no relevant previous convictions and the probation report shows that he now accepts his wrongdoing, Mr Lynn said.

He said the report also noted the defendant was at “moderate risk” of reoffending, but the barrister said this was “softened somewhat” by the fact Cantaragiu benefits from strong familial support.

Lorcan Staines SC, representing Burns, asked the court to consider imposing a non-custodial sentence in his client’s case.

He said Burns had witnessed “appalling violence”, was “very frightened” at the time and “felt he had no choice but to go along” with what Clejan and Doroscan were asking him to do. He said Burns didn’t know how serious the matter was until he read the newspaper reports.

Mr Staines said Burns had been in the care of the State and after the break-up of his relationship he had been the main carer for his two children, a role which he had taken “significant pride” in.

He said the probation report found Burns was at medium risk of “generic reoffending”, due to his continued cannabis use.

“I think generic is the important word here, the likelihood of him being involved in something as serious as this at this stage in his life is unlikely but there is a risk of generic reoffending given his continued cannabis use,” he said.

“I’m not going the skirt around the issue, I’m asking for non-custodial disposal in this case.”

Mr Staines said there were a number of mitigating factors, including Burns' plea of guilty, the fact that he had made a 999 call, the fear he was operating under at the time, his age and the admissions made to gardaí.

He said Burns does have previous convictions, but these go “back some time”.

He said the circumstances of the 999 call revealed the “erratic nature” of Burns's existence and the “cloudiness of his mind”, which related to his culpability.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt adjourned the matter to July 30th for finalisation.