Ionut Cosmin Nicolescu jailed for life for murder of Frankie Dunne in Cork

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

Ionut Cosmin Nicolescu, a 31-year-old chef with an address in Romania, was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court in Cork on April 28th, 2023, for the murder of Frankie Dunne. Mr Justice Paul McDermott imposed the mandatory life term and backdated it to November 8th, 2021, when Nicolescu was taken into custody in Romania on a European Arrest Warrant.

A jury of eight men and four women unanimously found him guilty after almost eight hours of deliberations. Nicolescu had denied murdering Mr Dunne, a 64-year-old father of three, at Castle Greine House on Boreenmanna Road in Cork city between December 27th and 28th, 2019. His defence counsel told the court he accepted the finality of the verdict and would not appeal.

Mr Dunne's dismembered body was found in bushes in the grounds of the derelict house on the evening of December 28th, 2019. State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers said he died from neck compression leading to asphyxia associated with blunt force trauma to the head. She said the decapitation and amputation of his arms happened after death.

Nicolescu told Gardaí he had only carried the body for two armed men, but the jury did not accept his account.