Man goes on trial charged with murder of Marioara Rostas

A 35-year-old man has gone on trial charged with murdering Romanian teenager Marioara Rostas in Dublin six years ago.

The 18-year-old girl died of gunshot wounds to her head before her body was buried in a shallow grave, where it was discovered four years later.

Alan Wilson, of New Street Gardens, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Rostas at Brabazon Street, The Coombe between January 7th and January 8th, 2008.

Prosecutor Sean Gillane opened the trial at the Central Criminal Court today, telling the jury that the victim was an ethnic Roma from very poor circumstances in Romania.

He explained that she moved to Dublin at the end of 2007 as did her parents and younger brother. Her father was unable to get work and the family began begging on the streets.

He said that on January 8th 2008, the family was begging at the junction of Lombard Street and Pearse Street behind Trinity College. He said her younger brother, Dimitru, saw her talking to a man in a Ford Mondeo car at about 2pm. He said that this man indicated to the boy that he and his sister would go for food and be back in 10 minutes. The family never saw her alive again.

Mr Gillane said that a “very upset and frightened” Mariora rang family in Romania the following day, but the conversation was very brief and the phone cut off.

An investigation commenced but there were no developments until the end of the year, when Dimitru identified the silver Ford Mondeo in which he last saw his sister. The accused admits owning the car, but denies driving it at the time.

Mr Gillane said the investigation also led to the examination of a house on Brabazon Street, the home of Alan Wilson’s sister, Maxine Wilson. Despite the house having been set on fire months earlier, two rounds of ammunition and a number of bullet holes were found.

Mr Gillane said a significant development came "in the dying days of 2011", when the accused man's friend, Fergus O'Hanlon, offered gardaí information on the disappearance. He later pointed out locations to search in a forest at Kippure on the Dublin/Wicklow border.

Mr Gillane said gardaí first found an empty “ready-made grave or bunker”. They later found a shallow grave containing the body of Ms Rostas.

He said her body was wrapped in a lot of plastic tightened by duct tape, “mummifying her within”. There was a pillowcase over her head and a knotted sheet wrapped around her legs.

The cause of her death was four gunshot wounds to her head.

Mr Gillane said Fergus O’Hanlon then gave a further statement and would also give evidence in court. He told gardaí that on the week beginning January 7th 2008, he got a call to return to Ms Wilson’s house on Brabazon Street. He said the accused came downstairs holding a firearm and wanted to show him something. He said that the accused brought him upstairs and showed him a corpse, telling Mr O’Hanlon: “She was a witness”.

He said that the accused then left and returned with cleaning material and a large bag. Mr O’Hanlon said that he assisted the accused in undressing the victim.

He said the accused put a pillow case over her head, wrapped her in a sheet and her remains were placed in a large bag. He said the accused then put her in the boot of his car.

Mr O’Hanlon said they drove around for about an hour before stopping at the forest in Kippure. He said he was told to take a shovel and that the accused carried the girl’s remains up an incline.

“Mr Wilson appeared to be looking around for the bunker,” said Mr Gillane. “That having not been found, the two began to dig the shallow grave.”

The teenager was buried and her belongings burned nearby. The two men returned to the house on Brabazon Street and Mr O’Hanlon said he spent two days cleaning the scene.

“The last words from Mr Wilson to Mr O’Hanlon were: ‘You never saw what you saw’ and he was also warned not to return to the location in Kippure,” said Mr Gillane.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of 10 men and two women, and is expected to last three to four weeks.