Roma teen suffered ‘appalling death’

Murdered teenager Marioara Rostas suffered an “appalling death” that shocked experienced investigators, the senior garda leading the hunt for her killers has said.

Appealing for the public’s help, Chief Superintendent Michael O’Sullivan stressed the young Romanian had been innocent and helpless against her assailants.

“Marioara was a harmless, defenceless young woman, 18 years of age. She looked younger than that. She was in this country for about three weeks.

“She was abducted in the south inner city of Dublin, brutalised and murdered for no apparent reason. I can say she suffered an appalling death that is incomprehensible in a civilised society.”

Chief Supt O’Sullivan was speaking following the formal identification of Marioara’s body which was found in a remote shallow grave in the Wicklow Mountains last Monday after 13 days of searches.

She had been missing since Jan 6, 2008, when she left her 15-year-old brother, with whom she had been begging on Lombard Street in Dublin, to get into a car that approached her.

Her family, who are Roma and were living in a semi-derelict house, were immediately concerned but their unfamiliarity with Ireland and their inability to speak English meant they did not report her disappearance until three days later.

It is not clear whether she was already dead by then. Gardaí confirmed an initial postmortem showed she died of gunshot wounds, but they would not elaborate on her injuries or where she died, although it is believed she sustained some injury in a house on Brabazon Street in Dublin which Gardaí confirmed remained a key location in their investigation.

Seven people were arrested, five men and two women, in Nov 2008 and Oct 2009. Gardaí also found the car in which Marioara was abducted but, although they have a number of suspects and have fresh forensic evidence from Marioara’s remains, they are not yet ready to charge anyone.

Superintendent John Gilligan of the Garda Press Office said the investigation team had gathered a large amount of intelligence about the crime and had a “steely determination” to pursue those responsible to justice but needed more evidence. He urged anyone with information to get in contact confidentially, and highlighted two phone calls made following a Crimecall appeal in 2008 in which anonymous callers gave information that had proved relevant to the case.

He asked that a man who called Pearse Street Garda Station from Co Wexford on June 2, 2008, and a woman who rang 999 on Sept 23, 2008, get back in touch.