LAST UPDATE | 19 Jul 2023

A YOUNG MAN is to stand trial accused of murdering teenager Marius Mamaliga who died following a stabbing in Dublin in February.

Brandon Gavin, 20, was initially charged under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act for causing serious harm to the 19-year-old at Forest Court, Swords on the evening of 23 February.

Mamaliga had been sitting in his car when he suffered severe injuries.

Paramedics were attending to the injured party on the ground unconscious as gardaí arrived, and he was in a critical condition when rushed to Beaumont Hospital.

Marius Mamaliga, from Swords and formerly of Blanchardstown, died in hospital three days after the incident.

Following directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Gavin was further charged with the murder of Marius Mamaliga contrary to common law.

He appeared before Judge Cephas Power at Cloverhill District Court today when Detective Garda Conor Tumbleton gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.

Judge Power heard that Gavin, of Brookdale Road, Rivervalley, Swords, “made no reply” to the charge when it was put to him at 10.41 am today.

Detective Garda Tumbleton said the DPP directed that Gavin would face “trial on indictment on one count of murder”.

The previous charge, under section four of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, was withdrawn.

Gavin had been held in custody with consent to bail since his first hearing on 25 February.

Dressed in a grey hoodie and blue jeans, he did not address the court today and is yet to indicate a plea.

He could not seek bail on the new, more serious charge. The District Court does not have the jurisdiction to consider a bail application in murder cases, which require an application before the High Court.

Judge Power granted him legal aid following an application from defence counsel Sharon Rossiter. Earlier in the proceedings the court had heard he was unemployed.

Gavin was remanded in custody to appear again on 26 July pending the preparation of a book of evidence. It needs to be served on him before the District Court can grant a return for trial order to send him forward to the Central Criminal Court.

At his first hearing on 25 February, Detective Garda Tumbleton said Gavin handed himself into gardai after his father brought him to Swords station an hour and twenty minutes after the incident.