Alan Wilson acquitted of Marioara Rostas murder

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Alan Wilson was acquitted of murdering 18-year-old Marioara Rostas. The proceedings were reported on 31 July 2014. Wilson had denied killing her. The alleged killing took place at a house on Brabazon Street in The Coombe in January 2008. The jury took just under three hours to reach its verdict.

Marioara Rostas was last seen by her younger brother getting into a car behind Trinity College while out begging on 6 January 2008. She was shot four times in the head. Four years after her disappearance, gardaí found her body wrapped in plastic in a foetal position in a shallow grave in the Wicklow Mountains.

Fergus O'Hanlon, described in the report as a vital State witness, led gardaí to the body and testified that he had helped Alan Wilson dispose of it. O'Hanlon had been granted immunity from prosecution, while the defence argued that his evidence was self-serving and full of lies.

The report said Alan Wilson would return to prison that evening to serve out a seven-year sentence for an unrelated meat cleaver attack.