A MAN charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend in Dublin last year told gardaí that she had cut his throat, not the other way around.
Loradena Pricajan (35), a nurse, was found dead on January 28th, 2010, in the bedroom of a rented apartment in the grounds of the Irish Management Institute in Sandyford. She had died of two wounds to her neck.
Mihalache Marian (49), with an address in Romania, was also found in the room with neck wounds.
He has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Pricajan.
Garda Det Sgt Eugene Stapleton told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he arrested Mr Marian on February 1st, 2010, at St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin. The court has already heard that he had had surgery there for his neck wounds.
Det Sgt Stapleton and gardaí interviewed him at Dundrum Garda station. He denied killing Ms Pricajan and said he did not understand why it was murder that they were investigating.
“I was in the room but I didn’t kill her,” he told gardaí. “She talked. She said she really likes me, is really attracted to me and is under great pressure. She told me every day she is working with people who are dying and she’s not afraid of anything. She took the knife and asked if I had the courage to end my life, the courage not to live any more.
“I said I had the courage and she cut my neck. I fell on the bed. That’s all I know,” he added.
He denied that he killed her because she had a new boyfriend and did not want him any more, and that afterwards he had tried to kill himself. “I told her she can do whatever she thinks,” he said.
It was put to him that he had video-taped her naked in the shower over Christmas and that she looked frightened in the video.
“No, I didn’t force or scare her,” he said.
The jury had been shown mobile phone footage, which was deemed too graphic to show to the rest of the courtroom. An interpreter translated the dialogue from the video.
“How come you love him so much?” Mr Marian had asked Ms Pricajan a number of times. “It’s going to be on the internet. You know that? You understand? It’s going to be on YouTube so people can see who you are, so people can know you’re a whore.”
The jury also heard from forensic scientist Dr Hilary Clarke, who found numerous areas of bloodstaining at the scene. She said the bloodstaining in the bedroom was consistent with Mr Marian actively bleeding and with an attempt to clean up blood.
Two bloodstained knives were found. She found blood matching only Ms Pricajan on one and a mixture of blood from both on the other. Dr Clarke also found a dissembled Nokia mobile phone.
“There was contact bloodstaining on the front and back of the phone and on the inside, on the battery and the Sim card,” she said. “The DNA profiles on these stains matched Mihalache Marian.”
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury.