MARIOARA ROSTAS: BROTHER RETURNS TO DUBLIN STREET WHERE HIS SISTER WAS ABDUCTED 18 YEARS AGO

“I HOPE THAT SOME DAY SOMEONE WILL BRING JUSTICE TO MY SISTER SO SHE CAN REST IN PEACE”

Almost 18 years after 18-year-old Marioara Rostas disappeared from a Dublin street, her younger brother continues to return to the place where he last saw her — carrying flowers and lighting a candle in her memory.

Dumitru Rostas was only 15 when he watched his sister get into a car on January 6, 2008.

The man behind the wheel had approached Marioara while she was begging with her family near the junction of Lombard Street and Pearse Street. According to her family, he offered to buy her food and spoke to her in Romanian.

Marioara got into the Ford Mondeo believing she would soon return.

She never did.

The Irish Sun has now revisited the case as Dumitru returned to the exact spot where his sister was last seen and renewed his plea for justice.

A YOUNG WOMAN WHO HAD ONLY BEEN IN IRELAND FOR WEEKS

Marioara had arrived in Ireland from Romania only weeks before her disappearance.

Her family had moved to Dublin in late 2007 after her father lost his job in Romania. They initially hoped to earn enough money to return home and rebuild their lives.

The family faced severe financial hardship and periods of unstable accommodation, eventually begging on Dublin streets for money and food.

Marioara regularly joined them near Trinity College, where the family would arrive by train each morning.

On January 6, she was standing near the Bank of Ireland when a man pulled up in a Ford Mondeo.

The man reportedly greeted her in Romanian and offered to take her to McDonald’s for food.

Dumitru remembered watching his sister get into the vehicle.

He told The Irish Sun that the man gave him money and said he would bring Marioara back.

She never returned.

THE LAST PHONE CALL

The day after Marioara disappeared, her family received a brief and frightening phone call.

Marioara had apparently managed to obtain access to the man’s phone and contacted relatives in Romania.

According to evidence later given during a murder trial, she was crying and asked for her father to come and get her. She was unable to explain exactly where she was before the call ended.

The call became an important part of the investigation.

Gardaí eventually focused on a suspect connected to a Ford Mondeo. An anonymous 999 call later provided information alleging that Marioara had been killed in a house in Dublin’s south inner city.

The property was subsequently destroyed by fire.

A major Garda investigation continued, eventually leading to the discovery of Marioara’s remains almost four years after she disappeared.

HER BODY WAS FOUND IN THE WICKLOW MOUNTAINS

On January 23, 2012, Gardaí discovered human remains at Kippure in the Wicklow Mountains following an extensive search.

The remains were formally identified as Marioara Rostas.

Gardaí said at the time that an initial post-mortem examination indicated she had died from gunshot wounds.

Her body had been buried in a shallow grave.

The discovery brought an end to years of uncertainty for her family, but it did not bring the justice they had hoped for.

During a 2014 murder trial, the court heard that Marioara had suffered four gunshot wounds to the head. Alan Wilson pleaded not guilty to her murder.

“THAT’S ALL THAT’S LEFT FOR ME NOW”

Now living and working in Dublin, Dumitru still visits the place where he last saw his sister.

Standing at the junction of Lombard Street and Pearse Street, he told The Irish Sun that he intends to continue returning there for as long as he remains in the city.

He said he brings flowers and lights a candle for Marioara.

“I hope that some day someone will bring justice to my sister so she can rest in peace,” he said.

For Dumitru, the location has become a place of remembrance — the final point in Dublin where he saw his sister alive.

Nearly two decades later, the family continues to carry the memory of the teenager who arrived in Ireland with hopes of a better life.

Her disappearance began one of the country’s major missing-person investigations of the period.

The discovery of her remains answered one question — what happened to Marioara — but for her family, another remains: who will ultimately be held responsible for her death?

Gardaí have previously appealed for anyone with information about Marioara’s disappearance and death to come forward.