Witness collapses at Central Criminal Court murder trial

A witness in a murder trial collapsed while giving her evidence at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday.

The witness, Romanian woman Garofita Selin, was being cross-examined about statements she gave to gardaí on the behaviour of the accused on the day of the alleged murder of a Romanian man found badly beaten in a Dublin park in 2018.

Ms Selin was being cross-examined by defence counsel Padraig Dwyer SC about alleged contradictions between her statements given to authorities in both Ireland and Romania regarding her claim that the accused, Mr Feri Anghel (42), had made a “scary” pass at her.

Both were working as cleaners in Slane, Co Meath, at the time of the alleged incident.

Mr Anghel is charged with murdering Romanian national Ioan Artene Bob (49) at a location in Co Dublin on April 13, 2018, and has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Mr Bob, a construction worker found in Sean Walsh Memorial park in Tallaght, Dublin 24, died from extensive blunt force trauma, with multiple fractures and bruising to his lungs and the outer surface of the heart.

He was found on the morning of April 13th lying in the shrub area of the park by a dog-walker and taken to Tallaght Hospital, where he later died.

The court has heard that he had won between €200 and €300 at a casino in the days before his death. However, the court has been told that he had already sent the bulk of the money to his family in Romania the day before he was attacked.

Ms Selin, the only witness giving evidence in the court today, collapsed from her chair in the witness box at around 3.55pm to gasps and was immediately attended to by gardaí, security and court staff.

The witness was giving evidence to Mr Dwyer through an interpreter when she suddenly fell unconscious and remained on the ground while being attended to for 35 minutes until emergency services arrived in the court. Ms Selin was given oxygen before being taken by wheelchair from the court.

Mr Dwyer had put it to Ms Selin that Mr Anghel had never acted inappropriately towards her at work but before she could respond the witness fell from her chair.

Immediately after her collapse, Mr Justice Paul Burns sent the jury home and adjourned the case for the rest of the day.