A 37-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of his partner in Co Meath almost three years ago.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court took just over three hours to find Daniel Blanaru, from Athboy in Co Meath, guilty of murdering 26-year-old Larisa Serban after a trial lasting seven weeks.
The court heard that Ms Serban, who was the mother of young children, was killed in cold blood and died as a result of a sustained and brutal attack at the hands of Blanaru, who was "controlling and jealous".
Both Blanaru and Ms Serban were from Romania but had been living in Ireland for a number of years.
Two weeks before the murder in August 2022, Ms Serban had called emergency services due to a violent incident.
In the early hours of the morning of 11 August, Blanaru attacked his partner, beating her and stabbing her in the heart.
Blanaru then left the house and travelled to his sister's home in Drogheda before heading towards Belfast.
However, after his brother and his wife found Ms Serban’s body, the car turned around and Blanaru presented himself to gardaí in Drogheda.
Blanaru’s accounts to gardaí were described by the prosecution as "confusing, garbled, self-serving and evasive".
In his defence he claimed that someone else had possibly killed Ms Serban.
He also told gardaí that there was a struggle where Ms Serban came at him with a knife and the knife accidentally went into her.
He also claimed he was trying to protect himself.
In his final garda interview, he told them: "I am guilty, I killed her, please lock me up."
Prosecuting Senior Counsel Eilis Brennan claimed the defence had "thrown the kitchen sink at everything" but the case was very simple and Blanaru had no plausible defence.
The court heard evidence from Ms Serban’s parents that Blanaru had made threats to kill her in the months before the murder.
The trial began on 11 February and was heard by an enlarged jury panel of eleven men and four women due to its duration.
Twelve jurors began considering their verdict this morning and took just three hours and two minutes to find Blanaru guilty of murder.
He will be sentenced on 10 April, when victim impact evidence may also be heard.
