'Immense amount of blood' at murder scene, court told

A 49-year-old Romanian man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend in South Dublin last year.

Mihalachie Marian, with an address in Romania, has pleaded not guilty to murdering 35-year-old nurse Loradena Pricajan on January 28, 2010 at the Irish Management Institute (IMI) in Sandyford.

Seán Gillane SC, prosecuting, told the jury that Ms Pricajan was also Romanian and living in Balally Court in the Sandyford - Dundrum area. She was quiet, hard-working and had predictable habits, he said, working nights as a nurse in Ballsbridge.

She had been in a relationship with Mr Marian, but this had broken down and she began a new relationship in mid 2009, he explained.

Mr Gillane said that the accused checked into the residence of the IMI on Monday night January 25 last year. He met the deceased at about 9am as she arrived home from work on the morning of the 27. They went to his room in the IMI, G5.

He said that CCTV footage showed that nobody else entered the room that day and nobody left. There was a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door and staff wishing to clean the room got an engaged tone when they tried to contact Mr Marian by phone.

“On the evening of the 27th, she didn’t attend work,” said Mr Gillane of the deceased, explaining that, due to her predictability, colleagues were concerned.

"Ahmed El Habri told the court that he was the night porter on duty at 6.30am on the 28th when he saw that there was a message from Room G5 on the reception phone."

“I played the voicemail,” he said “It was the voice of a male, breathless, saying: ‘Help, help’ like somebody having trouble breathing.”

Mr El Habri used the master key to open the room, which was not well lit.

“When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was the shower,” he said. “It was open, blood on the wall and glass broken”

He also saw a man lying up against the heater beside the bed, wearing only his underwear.

He asked a regular guest, Cormac O’Brien, who was exercising in the nearby gym to keep an eye on the room while he went to call an ambulance.

Mr O’Brien told the court that his room was near the defendant’s room and that he had heard a moaning noise some time before his alarm went off at 6.15.

When Mr El Habri asked him to go to G5, he found the door slightly open and a man saying: ‘Help me. Help me’.

“I tried to flick on some lights but the lights weren’t working,” he said. “I opened the bathroom door and noticed some dripping water and blood.”

He said he put a towel at the hall door to keep it open in order to let some light into the room. He then gave some water to the man asking for help.

“I noticed there was something on the bed and different colours,” he said. “There was a smell in the room. I felt I needed to get some light.”

He managed to turn on a lamp.

“I immediately turned to the bed to make out what was on it,” he recalled. “There was an immense amount of blood on the bed and a duvet wrapped up in a human shape. I saw the lady’s head.”

Mr O’Brien said he called out to the woman to see if she was ok, but got no response. However the man said: ‘She dead. She dead’.

“I felt uncomfortable. I was on his side of the bed so I moved to the other side of the bed,” he explained. “She wasn’t breathing. I told the man I was going to get help and ran to reception.”

He told Mr El Habri that there was also a woman in the room.

“I said: ‘I think she’s dead. I think you need to call the police as well as another ambulance’,” said Mr O’Brien.

Advanced paramedic Claire McCann said that she noticed a lot of blood when she arrived on the scene.

“I was told the lady was dead,” she recalled.

She said her colleague was dressing a wound on the man’s neck and she tried to gain access to his veins to administer fluids. However his blood pressure was so low that she couldn’t gain access.

“His blood pressure was unobtainable. It was so low due to blood loss,” she explained.

“I saw deep lacerations on his wrists. There was no bleeding and no blood on the person,” she recalled. “It was very unusual but I put it down to shock.”

The trial before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury seven men and five women is expected to last until the end of the month.