The mother of a murdered Romanian man has appealed for his friends to come forward to help gardai solve his murder. The man's body was found in a suitcase in a canal last month.
Ms Mariana Moraru, who is due to return to Romania today with her son's remains, said part of his soul and her heart would remain in Dublin.
The body of Mr Adrian Bestea (21), from the Transylvanian town of Timisoara, was found on July 20th packed into a suitcase dumped in the Royal Canal near Croke Park. He had died from head injuries.
Mrs Moraru arrived in Dublin last weekend to help gardai formally identify her son, who had lived in Ireland for two years and had been appealing the rejection of his application for refugee status.
She made her remarks at a joint press conference with senior gardai at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, yesterday.
Chief Supt Al McHugh, who is leading the murder investigation, released a photograph of Mr Bestea's 26-year-old Russian girlfriend, whom detectives want to interview.
He said she was known as Marina Rossi and had blond hair and a medium build. She had worked in different locations in Dublin in the past two years and was last seen near her home in Sandymount, south Dublin, days before Mr Bestea's body was discovered. There was nothing to suggest she was in any danger, he added.
Chief Supt McHugh said the woman had a close friend, known as Nadia, whom gardai would also like to interview. It is understood both women may have already left the country.
Chief Supt McHugh said gardai had interviewed more than 3,000 people. He appealed to friends of Mr Bestea from Ireland, Romania or other European countries to come forward with information which could help the murder inquiry.
The officer acknowledged that some people might be reluctant to speak to gardai because of their immigration status. But he said Romanians who had already helped gardai with the murder inquiry included those awaiting decisions or appeals on their applications to remain in the State.
A tearful Mrs Moraru said she came to Ireland "with my heart full of grief and my soul black" hoping that the reports of her son's tragedy would be untrue.
Speaking through her friend and interpreter, Dr Adina Duta, she thanked the Irish people and gardai for their help and support.
"My son was very happy in your country. Now I understand why," she said. She also thanked those who had contributed to the cost of her stay in Dublin and the repatriation of her son's remains to Romania for his burial.
She said: "Adrian will go home now, but a part of his soul and my heart will stay here in Dublin. I am very confident that gardai will find the killers of my son, and God will help them."
She made a special appeal for her son's friends who had not come forward due to their immigration status to help gardai. "I can assure those people that they will be treated with kindness and respect and humanity," she added.
Dublin City Coroner's Court was told yesterday that Mr Bestea died from severe head injuries. The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said a draft postmortem report showed he sustained a fractured skull and lacerations of the brain due to a blow to the left side of the back of his head.
Det Insp Hubert Collins said gardai were satisfied about Mr Bestea's identity following DNA tests on blood samples taken from his parents.
Mrs Moraru attended the brief hearing and broke down in the witness box as she confirmed that she had identified her son's body. Dr Farrell extended his sympathies to Mr Bestea's family. He said all people in Ireland would wish that young people from abroad could come and work here safely.
The brief hearing was held to allow the authorities to issue a death certificate and was adjourned pending the ongoing Garda investigation.