Emergency services received two 999 calls from a phone associated with Larisa Serban in the hours before she was found dead at her home in Co Meath, a jury has heard.
The Central Criminal Court jury in the murder trial of Daniel Blanaru heard that in one call, a female voice could be heard speaking in a foreign dialect but what was said was “not discernible”.
Mr Blanaru (37), from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Serban (26) on or about August 12th, 2022. It is the State's case that she was stabbed to death by Mr Blanaru, whom they argue was a “jealous” and "controlling" partner.
Detective Garda Conor Carolan told prosecution senior counsel Eilis Brennan on Tuesday that he was involved in the collation of the six 999 calls received by emergency services in relation to the incident at Rathmore.
He confirmed to counsel that each of the calls were recorded, and there was also cell site location and Advanced Mobile Location (AML) information regarding where each call was made from.
In relation to the cell site locations, the detective garda said masts provide coverage to a certain number of cells within a geographic area. Each cell site is allocated a number and when you ring 999 the cell site number is attached to the call by the network.
Det Gda Carolan said AML, which is automatically activated on newer devices, is more exact and sends the geo location to emergency services when a call is placed asking for assistance.
The detective garda said the first call was initiated at 1.41am and came from a mobile phone number associated with the deceased, Larisa Serban. He said the call lasted nine seconds and the cell site location identified was Rathmore, Co Meath. Det Gda Carolan said there was no dialogue present on this call.
Ms Brennan told the jury they will hear evidence in relation to the phone, which was found beside Ms Serban’s body, later in the week.
A second call from the same phone number was made at 1.46am and lasted eight seconds. This call contained approximately two to three seconds of a female voice speaking “in a foreign dialect”, Det Garda Carolan told the court, but what was being said was “not discernible”.
The trial also heard evidence on Tuesday from Stanislav Olaru, who provided interpretation services for Daniel Blanaru during his garda interviews.
Mr Olaru confirmed to Ms Brennan that while translating for Mr Blanaru, he was satisfied that at all times he conveyed the true meaning of what Mr Blanaru was saying to gardaí and the questions put to him.
Counsel noted the defence had employed someone to listen to the interviews and translate what was being said and said there were a few instances where there are “slight differences”.
Mr Olaru confirmed he was aware of this. He told the court he had interpreted “in real time” while the person employed by the defence had translated the interview, listening to the tapes a number of times.
Ms Brennan said in particular, there had been various descriptions in relation to the knife and the interactions which took place.
Mr Olaru again confirmed he was aware of this. “It’s not up to me to make sense of what he is saying, it’s up to me to interpret as best I can,” he said.
Under cross-examination, Mr Olaru confirmed to defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC that the other translator was not “interpreting live” as he had been but rather was translating with the benefit of a video which he could view multiple times.
Mr Olaru was asked by counsel to confirm he had received a document which listed some of the translations obtained by the defence and that he had not told prosecuting counsel that any of them were “wrong”.
“It’s not about being wrong it’s the way you interpret things,” said Mr Olaru. “As I explained, I did my best. I did not correct Mr Blanaru. I have to interpret from what I can hear and what I can get from Mr Blanaru.”
The trial before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and an enlarged jury of 11 men and four women continues on Thursday.
