Robert Burns (59) and Lorenzo Cantaragiu (22) walked free from court today.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt at the Central Criminal Court said the two “main protagonists” in the murder of Mahamud Ilyas (22) used Robert Burns (59) and Lorenzo Cantaragiu (22) for their own ends. The former provided them with a house from which they could deal drugs while Cantaragiu owned a car which allowed them to remove Mr Ilyas to a wooded area in Co Meath to be left to die.
Viorel Doroscan (23) of Bay Meadows Square, Hollystown, West Dublin, and Richardo Clejan (24), with a former address at Verdemont, Blanchardstown, Dublin have already been sentenced to life imprisonment having been found guilty of murdering Mr Ilyas on December 9, 2022.
Their trial heard that Mr Ilyas had stolen a bag of drugs that Doroscan and Clejan were storing in Burns’s home at Verdemont in Blanchardstown. Doroscan invited Mr Ilyas to come to Burns’s house where he and Clejan confronted their victim before beating him with hammers, stamping on his head and torso and punching and kicking him.
Mahamud Ilyas
They called Cantaragiu who arrived about 25 minutes after the assault and agreed to drive Doroscan and Clejan from the scene with the seriously injured Mr Ilyas in the back seat. Cantaragiu drove them to Belgree Lane in Co Meath where Doroscan and Clejan took Mr Ilyas from the car and left him to die from his injuries. Cantaragiu, who would later tell gardai that he was terrified of Doroscan, drove away leaving the killers to find their own way home.
Cantaragiu drove to a nearby garage, cleaned the car and sold it to a man with whom he had previously arranged a sale.
Cantaragiu, of Castlegrange Park, Blanchardstown, was convicted by a jury of impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Clejan and Doroscan, knowing or believing them to have caused serious harm to Mr Ilyas, by driving them to Belgree Lane and by cleaning the car.
Burns pleaded guilty to a similar charge for cleaning blood from the floor and walls of his apartment after the assault.
Mr Justice Hunt sentenced Burns, who has been on bail since he was charged, to four year in prison with the entirety suspended. Cantaragiu went into custody following his conviction on May 23. Mr Hunt sentenced him to four years in prison and suspended the balance of the term, allowing him to go free from court today.
Lorenzo Cantaragiu
News in 90 Seconds – Wednesday, July 30
Both men will have to be of good behaviour and keep the peace for four years or they could serve all or part of that four-year term. They will also be under a probation bond for one year that requires them to engage in various programs recommended by the probation service.
Mr Justice Hunt warned Burns to address his cannabis use, which he described as the gateway that allowed Doroscan and Clejan into his life
He said Doroscan and Clejan had taken advantage of Burns because they wanted to use his house as a “drug den for the purposes of dealing drugs”, something they were not prepared to do from their own homes.
He described Burns’s home as a “cuckoo house” with Doroscan and Clejan as the cuckoos. The judge added: “Mr Burns was taken in and excited by association with young men who gratified him with conversation about football and girls and assisted him in his habit of consuming cannabis.”
Had he not become “wrapped up with Doroscan and Clejan,” the judge said Burns would not have become involved in “anything like this”.
In mitigation, Mr Justice Hunt noted that Burns was frightened and overwhelmed by the “sudden and extreme” outbreak of violence in his home. Days later, he called 999 and his statements to gardai became the “gateway to the successful apprehension and prosecution” of Doroscan and Clejan.
He further noted a largely positive probation report and Burns’ guilty plea.
Cantaragiu, the judge said, knew nothing of the assault until at least 20 minutes after it had happened. He had no involvement in drug dealing or any other criminality and was confronted with a “very difficult and unexpected situation”.
Viorel Doroscan (23) and Otniel Richardo Clejan (24)
The judge accepted that Cantaragiu was frightened of Doroscan and Clejan and did what they told him out of fear and due to his young age and poor judgment.
“He recognises his involvement in criminality is wrong and he regrets his actions,” the judge said.
Mr Justice Hunt said Cantaragiu should have gone to gardai immediately and should not have cleaned his car, but he was clearly troubled by what happened and told his parents who insisted he go to gardai.
When he went to gardai, he provided significant assistance to the investigation and showed gardai the route taken to Belgree Lane.
Since going into custody, Mr Hunt said Cantaragiu suffered facial injuries due to him being regarded as a “rat” in prison. The judge said this “perhaps tells us what we already knew of the nature of the two people at the heart of this case”.
Cantaragiu has been on 23-hour lockup due to concerns for his safety and has had a “very unpleasant taste of custody”, the judge said.
Mr Justice Hunt said he understands that reasonable people would disagree with his approach to sentencing in this matter. He said his sympathies remain with Mr Ilyas’s mother and family but, he added: “The main protagonists got what they deserve.”
At a previous sentencing hearing, Mr Ilyas’s mother Muna Ali described her son as a lovely young man who had “high hopes for a career in football”.
She added: “Everybody in the family loved him and he had a lot of good friends. He was a good brother, especially to his sisters, and was like a father figure when his father was not in Ireland.”
Ms Ali said reliving the nightmare of her son’s death has left her devastated.
She said: “He was left in the middle of nowhere with no respect. The way he died was so painful and I feel helpless that I could not help him… They took his future, he was so young and full of life. My son was everything to me.”
The trial heard that gardai discovered Mr Ilyas’s body the day after the murder following a tip-off from a member of the public.
Both Clejan and Doroscan claimed they acted in self-defence after Mr Ilyas attacked them with a crowbar. Doroscan claimed that Mr Ilyas was alive and screaming abuse when they left him at Belgree Lane.
State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head using a blunt object such as a hammer, blows, and kicks. She said death could have occurred anywhere between 30 minutes and up to five hours after the attack but that the deceased would have become unconscious very quickly.