The father of a woman who was stabbed to death in her own home has told a jury she would hide the fact her partner was beating her.
The jury also heard on Tuesday that the accused, Daniel Blanaru (37), told Larisa Serban’s parents he would one day kill her and they would “hear about” it.
Mr Blanaru, from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Serban (26), at Rathmore, Co Meath, on or about August 12th, 2022.
Giving evidence through a Romanian interpreter on Tuesday, Ms Serban’s father, Ronet Serban, confirmed he told gardaí he had advised his daughter to “get rid” of Mr Blanaru, who was “violent”.
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Mr Serban said Mr Blanaru made a threat about his daughter in the weeks before she died.
“I recall that he said one day she will lose everything, like the money, the house and the children,” he said. “That one day he will kill Larisa. That we will hear about that.”
Mr Serban said he did not take the threat seriously at the time, and the accused then immediately changed the subject.
He said Ms Serban cared about Mr Blanaru and would not allow them to say “anything bad about him”. He said the couple knew Mr Blanaru “was violent” and that police were involved.
During cross-examination Mr Serban told defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha that his daughter loved Daniel Blanaru and that this was the reason “she was hiding that he was beating her”.
Mr Ó Lideadha put it to the witness that he may have heard about this but he did not see it. Mr Serban said he saw his daughter was “black in the face” but she would say she fell.
Asked if he accepted that this was not mentioned in his statement to gardaí, Mr Serban said the statement was made soon after his daughter died. “We were desperate and I didn’t remember that,” he said.
In her evidence to the court on Tuesday, Ms Serban’s sister, Sarah Serban, told the court she had advised her to break up with Mr Blanaru. She said her sister was always complaining about the fights between them and Mr Blanaru was “jealous” and “possessive” of her.
“My advice was to leave him,” she said, adding that the accused’s jealousy was “a very big problem”.
The witness said Mr Blanaru was always accusing Larisa of “having affairs with someone else” and would not allow her to have friends. She said her sister was always loyal to him and only saw someone else when they broke up for two months.
