The mother of the Romanian man whose badly beaten body was found in a suitcase in the Royal Canal, near Croke Park in Dublin, has spoken of the despair of losing her only child.
Ms Marianna Moraru, who is 43 today, said the killing had sapped her will to live.
Speaking in Bucharest as she waited for her visa to travel to Ireland tomorrow, she said: "I have taken drugs - sedatives - and you could cut me and I wouldn't feel it. I still don't believe it is my child. He was my only child and now I have no motivation for life, no motivation to keep living," she said yesterday in Bucharest.
Mr Marin Bestea, the victim's father, was too distraught to speak.
Ms Moraru said her son, Adrian Bestea (21), had been living happily in Ireland since 1999. "He was satisfied there. He phoned home twice a week. He worked in construction," she said.
His last phone call to his mother was on July 3rd, eight days before his body was found. "He was happy and had no problems. He told me he was going to get married to his Russian girlfriend."
Mr Bestea's body was found on July 20th when passers-by noticed the suitcase in the canal. It is believed it had been in the water for five days before it was discovered.
Mr Bestea was not identified until gardai took the unusual step of publishing a picture of the dead man's face, taken after the body was recovered.
Ms Moraru, from Timisoara in western Romania, said she had no feelings toward her son's killer. "I do not hate them. I am not the one who has to judge them. God will judge them," she said.
Ms Moraru said she believed those responsible would be caught. "I don't hate Ireland. I have all the trust in the Irish authorities that they will find who killed my child and justice will be done," she said.
Mr Bestea, who was appealing against a Department of Justice decision not to grant him refugee status, did not come from a particularly impoverished background, but was fascinated with Ireland and had always wanted to travel there.
"In Timisoara he had everything he wanted - an apartment, a car - but he wanted to fulfil himself, so he travelled to Ireland. All his friends were there. He was very loved in Romania but it was his wish to leave. All his friends had the same idea to emigrate," his mother said.
Mr Bestea was unusual in that he had a Schengen visa, which gave him the legal right to live in a number of European countries but he chose to go to Ireland where it was not valid.
"His one wish was to leave Romania and see how it was to be free," she said. "I now only have one wish and that is to bring him back."
Ms Moraru said she was grateful for the kindness shown by the Irish police force. "We are very grateful towards Det Insp Collins. He has been very kind, very warm and human. The Romanian embassy in Dublin will help bring my child back and Det Collins will catch his killer," she said.
Speaking in Bucharest as she waited for her visa to travel to Ireland tomorrow, she wept and said she was glad that before he died Adrian had achieved his goal of living in Ireland.
"I am grateful to Ireland. Ireland received him and then he tried to fulfil his dream of freedom. I don't hate Ireland or the Irish, I trust them to find his killer," she said.