Suspect flew to Edinburgh as police 'waited for him at different airport'

A suspect flew to Edinburgh while police were waiting for him in connection with an alleged vicious street attack, a court has heard.

Ionut Danca was initially accused of assaulting a Canadian tourist who died after being injured on Dublin's O'Connell Street but has had his case upgraded to a murder charge.

A file was submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions decided that Danca would face the more serious charge over the alleged attack on Neno Dolmajian on June 23 last, reports the Irish Mirror.

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Danca, 24, appeared at Dublin District Court on Monday when Judge Gerard Jones noted the State needed time to prepare the book of evidence for the trial.

Danca, who has received High Court bail, was ordered to appear again in January to be served with the book of evidence and for a return-for-trial order to be granted.

The Romanian construction worker with an address at Rathdown Square, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, was initially charged with assault causing harm to Mr Dolmajian, but that charge was replaced with the murder allegation.

Mr Dolmajian, who was from Montreal, single and in his 40s, was brought to the Mater Hospital "unresponsive", never regained consciousness and on July 2, he passed away.

At his earlier District Court bail hearing on the assault charge, Detective Sergeant Eoghan Byrne said the accused was allegedly with a group at Cathal Brugha Street when the injured party approached and engaged in conversation.

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It was claimed a member of the group struck him, and they moved on to O'Connell Street, where there was another interaction with the injured party. Some "became hostile", while others tried to intervene.

The tourist walked toward the quays but was allegedly knocked on the ground and received a "running kick". The detective described it as a full-force blow to the face.

The court also heard that Danca left the country for two days. He booked a flight from Dublin to Bucharest, and officers waited for him at the airport. But he went to Belfast instead and flew to Edinburgh and then Naples.

Detective Sergeant Byrne had said gardai went to his Dublin address, but it was "cleaned out," and there were ten bags of his belongings.

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It was claimed that "his girlfriend indicated they intended to leave Ireland permanently and have their stuff shipped to Romania."

He had agreed with defence solicitor Evan Moore that the accused had no prior criminal convictions and lived and worked in Ireland for six years and that he came back voluntarily following discussions.

However, that was allegedly after two days of calls, texts, and emails and efforts to locate him. Another man is also before the courts in connection with the incident, his case resumes in January.