A man accused of murder and a second man charged with the manslaughter of a Canadian tourist who died after being injured on Dublin’s O’Connell Street have been sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court.
Neno Dolmajian, who was from Montreal, single and in his 40s, was brought to the Mater Hospital “unresponsive” on June 23rd 2024 but never regained consciousness and passed away nine days later.
Ionut Danca (24) and Madalin Ghiuzan (23) were initially charged with causing serious harm. However, gardai later received directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions to upgrade the case.
Mr Danca, a construction worker originally from Romania but with an address at Rathdown Square, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, was then charged with the murder of Mr Dolmajian.
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A manslaughter charge was brought against his co-accused, also from Romania but living at Summerhill Parade, Dublin 1.
The two men, on bail with independent sureties, set at €13,000 for Mr Danca and €25,000 for Mr Ghiuzan, appeared again at Dublin District Court on Monday.
Noting that the prosecution’s books of evidence were handed over, Judge Mark O’Connell granted return-for-trial orders, sending them to the Central Criminal Court.
He warned them to notify the State if they intended to use alibis in their defence and directed gardai to hand over copies of interview videos to the defence.
The bail terms were not read out, but the judge informed them they remained in place.
Following applications by solicitor Stephen O’Mahony and barrister Barry Lysaght, Judge O’Connell granted legal aid to include senior counsel representation. At the request of Mr O’Mahony, he directed that the book of evidence and any other documents in disclosure would be translated into Romanian.
The two men did not address the court but nodded to indicate they understood the procedure. They have yet to indicate how they will plead.
At an earlier District Court bail hearing on the assault charge, Detective Sergeant Byrne said the injured party approached a group and engaged in conversation.
It was claimed a member of the group struck him, and they moved on to O’Connell Street, where another interaction with the injured party “became hostile.”
The tourist walked toward the quays but was allegedly knocked on the ground and received a “running kick”, a full-force blow to the face.
