Father tells of attempt to report daughter missing

The father of a teenager found in a shallow grave in 2012 has described the day she disappeared in 2008, and his unsuccessful attempt to report her missing.

Dumitru Rostas was giving evidence to the Central Criminal Court yesterday in the trial of the man charged with his daughter’s murder.

Alan Wilson, aged 35, of New Street Gardens, Dublin, is charged with murdering Marioara Rostas, 18, at a house on Brabazon St, The Coombe, between January 7 and 8, 2008. He has pleaded not guilty.

Her body was found in a shallow grave in Kippure on the Wicklow border in January 2012. She had died of four bullet wounds to her head.

Mr Rostas, a father of 10, testified that he moved from Romania to Ireland in late 2007 with his wife and son.

His daughter, Mariaora, joined them on December 19 of that year. They were begging in the city on January 6, 2008.

He said he left his son and daughter at around 2pm to get food and returned about 20 minutes later. When he returned, his daughter was gone.

He said that the family waited for three hours but she did not return. He went to a Garda station once it became dark, but “they didn’t understand” him.

He said that, the following day, he learned that his daughter had made a call to Romania. Mr Rostas said he eventually managed to get an interpreter and reported his daughter missing on January 9.

The jury heard the alleged murder scene was the focus of a Garda investigation in February 2008 after the fire brigade extinguished a blaze at the house.

Garda Daniel McCarthy said he went to the house some hours after the fire had been extinguished.

“It appeared that there was a probability that an accelerant could have been used,” he explained. He said he returned to the house in October 2008 as part of the probe into the disappearance of Ms Rostas.

The jury was earlier shown a photograph of a bullet recovered from a wall in the house. They also heard from gardaí who recovered the teenager’s body.

The trial continues.