The knife which caused the fatal injury to Larisa Serban, who was found with a stab wound to the chest at her Co Meath home, has never been recovered, a murder trial has heard.
Daniel Blanaru (37), from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Serban (26) on or about August 12th, 2022. It is the State's case that she was stabbed to death by Mr Blanaru, whom they argue was a “jealous” and "controlling" partner.
During a second day of cross-examination on Friday, Detective Sergeant Robert Madden confirmed to defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC that gardaí have never recovered the knife that caused the fatal injury.
“The last known person with the knife was Mr Blanaru,” he said.
Mr Ó Lideadha put it to the witness that Mr Blanaru said during interviews that the knife was in the house and counsel suggested that if it was gone then someone else may have removed it.
Det Sgt Madden said Mr Blanaru had “said a lot of things” when interviewed.
“He said he left the knife there, later on he said he didn’t know. We questioned him about the knife, and he isn’t willing to tell us,” replied the witness.
Det Sgt Madden said “extensive searches” were taking place at the time trying to locate the knife and Mr Blanaru was the last known person who had it.
“That’s why we are asking,” he said.
The Det Sgt was asked by counsel if he accepted there was a question mark over Mr Blanaru’s reliability.
“I accept he told us lies in the interview so when he tells us something we must probe it,” said the witness. “I asked him where the knife was because his accounts have changed over the course of the interviews. He said he handled the knife so it’s important to us to find out where it was.”
Earlier, a portion of video footage from Mr Blanaru’s third interview was played for the jury in which he was asked to describe the knife.
In the segment, the accused described the instrument as a “kitchen knife” which was white with a silver blade.
He then demonstrated using his hands the length of the blade - which gardaí noted was approximately six inches - and used two fingers to illustrate the width of the blade.
He said the blade was “very sharp” and was smooth with no teeth.
Mr Blanaru then asked gardaí: “Did you find the knife?”
He was asked if there was any way he could have removed the knife or if he brought it in his car and he replied no.
Mr Blanaru asked the interviewing officers why they had asked “how many times I stabbed her”. Det Gda Madden said it was because it was important.
“I said one. Is it only once?,” Mr Blanaru asked.
Mr Ó Lideadha put it to the witness that Mr Blanaru was giving gardaí a description of the knife and gardaí keep asking him what happened to it. Counsel said Mr Blanaru appears to be asserting there was no way the knife could be gone because he left it there.
During questioning this morning, Mr Ó Lideadha put it to Det Sgt Madden that he had “a strategy” which came from a fixed position that Mr Blanaru had murdered his wife.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion,” Det Sgt Madden replied, adding gardaí approached it with an “open mind” though Mr Blanaru was “obviously a suspect”.
Mr Ó Lideadha put it to the detective sergeant he had wanted the truth “as long as it was a confession”.
“You’ve seen the interviews I have conducted; I ask him to be honest and to tell the truth,” said Det Sgt Madden.
“A false confession - that’s not something I’m after so why would I do that?”
Mr Ó Lideadha put it to the witness that the word stabbed was used in questions by gardaí even though Mr Blanaru was actually describing a struggle when the knife went into Larisa.
“We’re aware the knife went into the heart, and it went in a number of centimetres and we know it can’t be self-inflicted according to [State pathologist] Dr [Heidi] Okker,” Det Sgt Madden said.
The court has already heard that during garda interview, after some witness statements were put to him, Mr Blanaru told interviewing officers: “Listen to me please I can’t take it anymore. I have a pain in my heart,” the accused responded. “Please, I am guilty I killed her. Please lock me up and leave me alone and that is it.”
Mr Ó Lideadha suggested to Det Sgt Madden that when Mr Blanaru said this, he was demonstrating that “he can’t take anymore”.
“He is explicitly saying ‘why are you going on about this? I’m guilty, I killed her because I can’t anymore’. I want to suggest to you that he’s implying he can’t take the process; that’s the danger,” said counsel.
Det Sgt Madden said it was “vitally important” that the evidence was put to Mr Blanaru.
“He’s saying ‘I am guilty already’. We have to put the evidence to him,” said the detective sergeant. “This is new information to him, it’s witness statements taken by gardaí. Regardless of whether he wants to listen to it or not is irrelevant, we have to put it to him.
“We have to investigate the full murder investigation and to be fair to your client we have to give him the opportunity to see the evidence that we have.”
