Days before attempt to travel, mother told Tusla her son was living with relatives
Maria Aruebose (28) was refused passage through US immigration at Dublin Airport to travel to Atlanta, Georgia, just a couple of days before gardaí arrived with a search warrant to examine her Dublin home at The Gallery, Donabate, on August 29.
Months prior, Maria had booked a flight to visit a close female friend who lives in Atlanta.
Investigating detectives have no reason to believe she was trying to flee the country while the garda probe escalated over her missing son, as the flight had been booked some time previously. Regardless, US immigration denied her entry.
Just a couple of days later, gardaí arrived at her home with a search warrant.
Days before this, Maria had told Tusla, the child and family agency, that her son was living with her relatives in the south of the country. But checks with her family soon established that Daniel was not there.
When gardaí arrived at her door on August 29, Maria told them that Daniel had died four years earlier in 2021.
She was sent to a hotel overnight as the garda team undertook a search of her home. The only trace they found of Daniel was one photograph of the little boy, which was hidden, as well as a teddy bear belonging to him. All other traces of the child, who spent the first 18 months of his life with foster parents who “adored him” and who would have been seven years old if he was still alive, had been removed.
A day later, she was asked to attend Swords garda station to answer some questions about how her son died. By this stage, she had been assigned a solicitor, Martin O’Donnell, of Morgan Redmond Solicitors in Swords.
What followed was an extensive series of garda interviews, under caution, during which Maria outlined details about her son’s short life and death, as well as information about her background and her relationship with Daniel’s father, Ciarán Dirrane.
She also brought gardaí on two occasions to land in Donabate where she said that she, alongside his father, had buried her son. Gardaí have been told the couple used their hands to dig a shallow grave.
Floral tributes and a picture of Daniel Aruebose near the spot where remains were discovered. Photo: Collins
Between August 29, up until mid-September, Maria was interviewed in the presence of her solicitor for more than 25 hours in a series of meetings.
On September 17, gardaí found partial skeletal remains, believed to be that of Daniel. Maria was due to be interviewed that day, but after the remains were found, investigators at Swords cancelled this meeting – detectives have not sought to interview her since as they seek first to establish a cause of death.
The discovery marked a significant shift in the investigation. But initial post-mortem results have been unable to determine cause of death. It is understood there is no evidence of blunt force trauma, which could have upgraded the probe to a suspicious death.
Further tests are ongoing on his remains, which are understood to have been significantly decomposed, given that they were buried in wet ground for four years.
Sources privately acknowledge they are not optimistic that the ongoing forensic testing will uncover how young Daniel died.
Investigators are now focused on trying to “unravel and understand the short life and death of Daniel Aruebose”.
What his mother has told gardaí has been very helpful to the wider probe. Maria has co-operated fully and outlined in detail the night she said she found her three-year-old son dead in his bed in July 2021.
She has told investigators that she awoke in the middle of the night and, on her way to use the bathroom, she checked on her young son. She found him “ice cold” in his bed and then woke Daniel’s father who was sleeping on the couch in their apartment. The former couple were no longer romantically involved but were still living together.
The parents then placed their son in a bath of water, using cold and hot water, to try to revive him, gardaí were told.
Once they accepted he was dead, they “panicked” and took the decision to conceal his death rather than ring the emergency services.
Several hours after he died, they placed his body in a hold-all bag and walked around 4km to wasteground in Donabate, where they buried him.
Maria has told gardaí she had an argument with Ciarán Dirrane either on the night her son died, or a couple of nights before Daniel’s death.
Gardaí searching for the remains of Daniel Aruebose in an area between Donabate and Portrane. Photo: Fergal Phillips
Gardai have “concerns” that she cannot be exact about the date when this argument took place. She has explained that the row stemmed from her close relationship with the American woman from Atlanta. The two met through online gaming and formed a close bond. She has told gardaí that Ciarán Dirrane “smashed up” part of the bathroom in anger during this argument.
Maria has also been unclear about the exact date Daniel died, initially telling investigators it was some time in August 2021, before settling on a date in mid-July.
“This has raised some eyebrows,” said a source. “You would think the date of the death of your only child would be ingrained on your mind.”
Ciarán, from the west of Ireland, was living with his ex-girlfriend in Donabate to help raise Daniel at the time of his death, despite the couple’s break-up.
He now lives in Brazil with a new partner. Gardaí have spoken to him about his son’s death. He has co-operated and has enlisted a legal representative in Brazil, who is helping him communicate with gardaí.
Around 18 months later, Daniel’s parents went to the location where they buried their son to “remember and honour him”, gardaí have been told
He, too, has told investigators that his son died naturally in his bed and has admitted that he was involved in secretly burying him alongside his ex-girlfriend.
The former couple have remained in contact and on good terms since the death of their son. Ciarán moved out of their Donabate home not long after Daniel died.
Around 18 months later, they went to the location where they buried their son to “remember and honour him”, gardaí have been told.
“It was probably too difficult for them to remain living together afterwards,” a source said. “Carrying this secret together. They both moved on.”
Forensic and DNA tests are expected to confirm soon that the skeletal remains are those of Daniel.
Maria has provided a voluntary DNA sample. As his next of kin, gardaí anticipate that her son’s remains will be released to her for burial. She has indicated to her family that she would like to give her child a proper funeral and burial.
State Pathologists Dr Yvonne McCartney (left) and Dr Heidi Okkers attend the scene in Donabate. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Maria has been estranged from her parents, who brought her up in a strict Christian household, for over a decade. The family relocated to Ireland from Nigeria when she was a baby. Maria has an “independent nature”, which led to friction and her leaving the family home aged 18 and cutting ties with her family.
Her parents did not know she had a son, who later died, until gardaí arrived at their door in August asking if Daniel was living with them.
It is understood that Maria has had contact with her mother in recent weeks, who has expressed concern about what charges her daughter could be facing in connection with the death of her son.
Maria has no plans to return to the family home in the south of Ireland, where a number of her siblings still live.
Concerns about the whereabouts of Daniel were first raised within the Department of Social Protection. It had contacted Maria in recent months, to enquire why she was not claiming child benefit for her young son. Unsatisfied by her response, it flagged the case with Tusla, who had previous involvement with the family.
Maria gave her son up for adoption after he was born and he spent the first 18 months of his life in the care of foster parents. She was living in shared accommodation in Portmarnock, Dublin, with Ciarán, when she became pregnant in 2017. She felt this wasn’t an appropriate environment to raise a baby.
She later lived in a homeless accommodation centre in Donabate, before securing an apartment in The Gallery.
The former couple maintained contact and bonded with their son, who had regular overnight stays with his parents while in State care. When he was around 18 months old, he was returned to live with his parents permanently.
Maria has told gardaí that her son was a happy, healthy and “very active” little boy up until the time of his death.
She is aware that she is likely to face criminal charges over failing to report her child’s death, as well as secretly burying him.
Neither of these offences carry lengthy custodial sentences. Maria “broke down in tears” when she was informed that gardaí had found skeletal remains but has otherwise been stoic under garda questioning. Her focus is now on giving her son “a proper funeral and a resting place”.
Gardaí have no plans at present to travel to Brazil to interview Ciarán Dirrane. Developments in the investigation will be determined by the outcome of the ongoing forensic testing.
Investigators have been focusing on interviewing as many people as they can identify who can shed some light on young Daniel’s life, as well as the lives of his parents.
Among dozens of people detectives have contacted is Maria’s close friend in Atlanta, as she was in regular contact with this woman at the time of Daniel’s death.
“It’s an extensive and exhaustive investigation,” explained a source. “We are trying to build up a picture of the short life and tragic death of Daniel Aruebose.”
Daniel Aruebose pictured at the age of two-and-a-half
News in 90 Seconds – October 5th