The State’s main witness in the prosecution for the murder of Marioara Rostas (18, above) has denied saying he hated the accused and wanted to do “him over”.
Fergus O’Hanlon (37) was being cross-examined at the Central Criminal Court yesterday in the trial of his former friend, who is charged with murdering the teenager.
Alan Wilson (35) of New Street Gardens, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder at O’Hanlon’s house on Brabazon Street, the Coombe, between January 7th and January 8th, 2008.
The Romanian teenager disappeared on the afternoon of January 6th, after her brother saw her getting into a Ford Mondeo with a man on Lombard Street. Her body was found in a shallow grave on the Wicklow border four years later. She had died of four bullet wounds to her head.
O’Hanlon, a convicted criminal, has been granted immunity from prosecution in the case. He has testified that he arrived home on January 8th, 2008, to find Ms Rostas with a hole in her forehead and Wilson holding a gun.
He insisted this was the first time he had ever seen the girl. He said he felt sick but helped the accused bury her body in the Dublin mountains and cleaned up the scene.
Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, asked him if he was in court because he hated Mr Wilson.“No, I don’t hate him,” he said.
Mr O’Higgins read out a Garda record in which the officer said he had stopped and searched O’Hanlon in March 2011. “He has fallen out with Wilson. He spoke freely about his hatred of Wilson,” said the note.
“I didn’t speak freely. He probably interpreted in his own way,” he replied
Mr O’Higgins then read out a transcript of a phone recording between O’Hanlon and a girlfriend.
“I waited four years to f**k him over for what he deserves,” read the barrister from the transcript.
“I don’t recall that,” replied the witness.
The case continues.