A murder trial jury has heard that a young man stabbed in the neck as he sat in his car suffered blood loss at the scene that led to a cardiac arrest resulting in brain damage.
State pathologist Dr SallyAnn Collis told the jury in the trial of Brandon Gavin (22) that, despite medical intervention at the scene of the stabbing, 19-year-old Marius Mamaliga suffered hypoxic brain injury which was caused by the deprivation of oxygen to the brain due to blood loss.
Mr Gavin, of Brookdale Road, Rivervalley, Swords, is charged with the murder of Mr Mamaliga at Forest Court, Swords, on the evening of February 23rd, 2023. He has pleaded not guilty.
At the Central Criminal Court on Thursday, Dr Collis gave evidence to counsel for the DPP, Ronan Kennedy SC that she conducted a post-mortem on Mr Mamaliga and found a stab wound 9cm below his left ear that was 1.9cm in length and 7.5cm deep. She said the wound was not completely horizontal as one end was slightly higher than the other, with one side of the wound looking pointed, while the other end was possibly square, which was consistent with the use of a single blade implement.
She said the wound was angled downwards from the left side of his neck, which caused a diffuse hemorrhage, while there was bleeding on the right side of his neck, which showed the stab wound track had damaged the vascular structure on the right side of the neck.
She told the jury that Mr Mamaliga sustained arterial bleeding to the left common carotid artery, which was almost transected, as well as damage to his left jugular vein and damage to his upper windpipe. She said that, despite medical intervention at the scene of the stabbing, Mr Mamaliga suffered hypoxic brain injury which was caused by the deprivation of oxygen to the brain due to blood loss.
Due to the damage to his brain stem, no recovery was possible, said Dr Collis, going on to say that he was declared brain dead, caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain due to cardiac arrest.
The doctor went on to tell the jury that Mr Mamaliga had a single puncture type defect in the left side of his voice box, as well as damage to both the left and right side of his esophagus.
Dr Collis was shown the knife recovered by gardaí, which she said had a blade with one cutting surface. She said the length of the blade was just slightly longer than the tract of the wound, while its width also matched the wound.
“A knife such as this would have caused the injury that I saw,” said Dr Collis.
Defence counsel, Dean Kelly SC said that the blade measured 9.5cm, while the tract of the wound was 7.5cm, so he put it to the witness that the blade was not inserted to its full length into the body of the victim. Dr Collis agreed with this, going on to confirm that no “hilt wound” was present on the deceased’s neck from inserting the knife all the way. Concerning the degree of force used, Dr Collis said that she put this case in the moderate category, confirming that more force is required to pierce the skin than the tissue underneath.
In response to further questioning from Mr Kelly, Dr Collis said it was not possible to say if Mr Mamaliga had been facing forward or had been turning around when he was stabbed.
At the opening of the State’s case, Mr Kennedy said that the charge of murder arose from the fatal stabbing of the deceased on February 23rd, with Mr Mamaliga dying from his injuries on February 26th.
Mr Kennedy said it is the prosecution’s case that Mr Gavin went to meet with the deceased armed with a knife, that he got into the back seat of the car behind the deceased and suddenly without warning stabbed him in the neck with the intention of killing him or causing him serious injury.
The jury heard that the accused told gardaí that the deceased “came at” him so he defended himself. He also told gardaí that he feared for his life as he owed a drug debt of €2,500.
The trial continues on Friday before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and the jury of seven men and five women.
