A man initially accused of assaulting a Canadian tourist who died after being injured on O’Connell Street in Dublin earlier this year has had his case upgraded to murder.
Dublin District Court heard on Monday that the Director of Prosecutions had decided that Ionut Danca would face the more serious charge over the alleged attack on Neno Dolmajian on June 23rd.
Mr Danca (24), appeared before Judge Gerard Jones, who noted the State needed time to prepare the book of evidence for the trial.
Mr Danca, who has received High Court bail, was ordered to appear again in January to be served with the book of evidence.
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The Romanian construction worker, with an address at Rathdown Square, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, was initially charged with assault causing harm to Mr Dolmajian, but that charge was replaced with one of murder.
Mr Dolmajian, who was from Montreal, single and in his 40s, was brought to the Mater Hospital after the incident. He never regained consciousness and died on July 2nd.
At his earlier District Court bail hearing on the assault charge, Detective Sergeant Eoghan Byrne said the accused was allegedly with a group at Cathal Brugha Street when the injured party approached and engaged in conversation.
It was claimed a member of the group struck him, and they moved on to O’Connell Street, where there was another interaction with the injured party.
Some “became hostile”, while others tried to intervene.
The tourist walked toward the quays but was allegedly knocked on the ground and received a “running kick”. The detective described it as a full-force blow to the face.
The court also heard that Mr Danca left the country for two days. He booked a flight from Dublin to Bucharest, and officers waited for him at the airport. But he went to Belfast instead and flew to Edinburgh and then Naples.
Det Sgt Byrne had said gardaí went to his Dublin address, but it was “cleaned out,” and there were 10 bags of his belongings.
It was claimed that “his girlfriend indicated they intended to leave Ireland permanently and have their stuff shipped to Romania.”
He had agreed with defence solicitor Evan Moore that the accused had no prior criminal convictions and lived and worked in Ireland for six years and that he came back voluntarily following discussions. However, that was allegedly after two days of calls, texts, and emails and efforts to locate him.
Another man is also before the courts in connection with the assault on Mr Dolmajian. His case resumes in January.
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