Teenager’s conviction for murder of Urantsetseg Tserendorj upheld

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

A teenager convicted of murdering Urantsetseg Tserendorj will continue serving a life sentence after the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction on 2 November 2023. His sentence is subject to a review after 13 years.

The boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. He was found guilty of murder by a majority jury verdict on 11 November 2022, following two trials. The first trial had ended when the jury could not agree.

Ms Tserendorj was stabbed in the neck on a walkway between George’s Dock and Custom House Quay in Dublin on 20 January 2021, after the boy, then aged 14, attempted to rob her. She was declared dead on 29 January 2021.

The boy told gardaí he panicked, pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed her in the neck, but did not mean to do it. His lawyers argued that he was intoxicated and intended only to steal from her, while the prosecution argued that he intended to cause an injury.

Delivering the ruling for the three-judge Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Tara Burns said none of the grounds of appeal could be upheld. They included challenges to the admission of evidence of another attempted robbery, a prosecutor’s opening remark, an account given by Ms Tserendorj to her husband and the conduct of trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt.