Teenager’s conviction for Urantsetseg Tserendorj’s murder upheld

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

The Court of Appeal upheld an unnamed teenager’s conviction for the murder of Urantsetseg Tserendorj on 2 November 2023. He was to continue serving a life sentence, subject to review after 13 years.

A jury found him guilty of murder by a majority verdict on 11 November 2022, after his first trial ended without agreement. He had pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to manslaughter. The appeal proceedings were reported on 2 November 2023.

Ms Tserendorj was stabbed in the neck during an attempted robbery on a Dublin walkway on 20 January 2021. She was declared dead on 29 January. The boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, told gardaí that he panicked, pulled out a knife and stabbed her, but did not mean to do it. His lawyers said he was intoxicated and intended only to steal from her.

At the appeal, his counsel Michael O’Higgins SC challenged the admission of evidence about another attempted robbery and of Ms Tserendorj’s account to her husband. He also challenged a prosecution remark and the conduct of trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt.

Delivering the three-judge court’s ruling, Ms Justice Tara Burns rejected all grounds. She said the evidence of the other attempted robbery was relevant and the account given to Ms Tserendorj’s husband was admissible. She also found that the complaints about the trial judge did not make the trial unfair or the verdict unsafe.