A suspect flew to Edinburgh whilst police were waiting for him at Buacharest airport in connection with an alleged violent street attack, a court has heard. Ionut Danca was initially accused of assaulting a Canadian tourist – who died after being attacked on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on June 23, 2023 – but has had his case upgraded to a murder charge.
A file was submitted to the Irish Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and it was subsequently decided Danca would face the more serious charge over the alleged attack on Neno Dolmajian, reports the Irish Mirror. The 24-year-old appeared at Dublin District Court on Monday when Judge Gerard Jones noted the State needed time to prepare the book of evidence for the trial.
Danca, who received High Court bail, was due to appear in court in January to be served with the book of evidence and for a return-for-trial order to be granted. The Romanian construction worker of Rathdown Square, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, was initially charged with assault causing harm to Mr Dolmajian, but that charge was replaced with the murder allegation.
Mr Dolmajian, who was from Montreal, Canada was rushed to the Mater Hospital in Dublin “unresponsive” and did not regain consciousness and on July 2, he passed away. At his earlier District Court bail hearing on the assault charge, Detective Sergeant Eoghan Byrne said the accused was allegedly with a group at Cathal Brugha Street when the injured party approached and engaged in conversation.
It was said a member of the group struck him, and they moved on to O’Connell Street, where there was another interaction with the injured party. Some “became hostile”, while others tried to intervene. The tourist then made his way to the quays but was allegedly knocked on the ground, recieving a “running kick”, which the detective described as a full-force blow to the face.
The court also heard Danca fled the country for two days. He booked a flight from Dublin to Bucharest, with officers waiting for him at the airport. However he went to Belfast instead, flying to Edinburgh and then Naples.
Detective Sergeant Byrne had said gardai went to his Dublin address, but it was “cleaned out” and there were ten bags of his belongings. It was claimed “his girlfriend indicated they intended to leave Ireland permanently and have their stuff shipped to Romania”.
He had agreed with defence solicitor Evan Moore that the accused had no prior criminal convictions and lived and worked in Ireland for six years and that he came back voluntarily following discussions. However, that was allegedly after two days of calls, texts, and emails and efforts to locate him.
Another man is also before the courts in connection with the incident, his case resumes in January.
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