The sister of a man accused of murdering his partner told gardaí he said: “I killed her”, a jury has heard.
However, in her direct evidence at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday, Simona Terezia Ciurar told the jury via a Romanian interpreter that she does not remember her brother, Daniel Blanaru, using those words or saying “he put a knife” in the mother-of-two.
She said she does not remember saying “anything like that about the knife” in her statement to gardaí.
“I was crying. I don’t remember what I said. I was very stressed,” said Ms Ciurar.
Mr Blanaru (37), from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his partner Larisa Serban (26) at Rathmore on August 12th, 2022.
Senior counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Eilis Brennan, questioned Ms Ciurar about a statement she made to gardaí on the day of Ms Serban’s death and another four days later.
When asked whether she understood the importance of telling the truth at the time, Ms Ciurar replied: “Yes. I said what I remembered at the time, but now I don’t remember everything.”
She went on to say she did not know whether her memory was better on the day she made her statements than when she was now giving her evidence in court.
“You don’t accept that your memory on the day was better than today?” asked Ms Brennan.
“No, because I was crying too much,” Ms Ciurar replied.
She confirmed her brother Daniel knocked on the door of her house between 3 and 4am on August 12th, 2022, and was agitated, upset and shaking.
Ms Brennan put it to her that in her statement, Ms Ciurar said: “He kept saying, ‘I killed her, I killed her, what have I done?’”
To this, the witness replied: “I don’t remember it. I just remember him saying, ‘My wife, my children’.”
Ms Brennan said Ms Ciurar said in her statement that the accused told her “he put a knife in Larisa”. Ms Ciurar said she does not remember this.
Ms Brennan said Ms Ciurar told gardaí the accused had told her he arrived home to find Ms Serban with another man. That man ran away before the accused and Larisa started arguing.
“I believe so, yes. I don’t know,” said Ms Ciurar.
Ms Brennan referenced the second statement Ms Ciurar gave to gardaí, on August 16th, in which she told gardaí the accused said: “I cut her”. Ms Ciurar said she does not remember her brother saying he cut Ms Serban.
“I don’t remember everything I said at the time,” she said.
Ms Brennan next put it to the witness that she had told gardaí: “When he said that he killed her, I was in total shock.” Ms Ciurar replied: “He didn’t say that to me”.
In response to questioning by defence barrister, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, Ms Ciurar said it was difficult to follow and understand everything he was saying.
She went on to confirm it had been very difficult for her to remember what her brother had said.
“Can you remember what you said in your statements?” asked Mr Ó Lideadha.
“No, I was very stressed and I was crying,” she replied.
The trial continues on Thursday before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and an enlarged jury of eleven men and four women.
