A man told his mum that he couldn’t end his relationship with the woman who allegedly murdered him because he loved her “very much”, a court has heard.
Lina Stoica, 46, told a jury how her son Samoila revealed his feelings for Adriana Ciurar, 25, during a car journey in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve, 2019.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard Mrs Stoica say on Tuesday how Samoila spent that entire day looking “sad”.
She also told prosecution lawyer Lisa Gillespie QC that she also overheard Samoila having an argument with Ms Ciurar during a phone conversation between the two of them.
Mrs Stoica said it was the last time she saw Samoila as he lost his life the following day.
Advised to split
During evidence, Mrs Stoica said she and her son had spent the day working at a company called Kettle Produce in Fife.
Speaking through an interpreter, Mrs Stoica told Ms Gillespie that she advised her son to split from Ms Ciurar and resume a relationship with another woman.
She said: “I told him to separate from that woman and to make up with his wife as he had four children.
“But he was telling me I cannot do that. He said ‘I love her very much.’
“I was crying in front of him to tell him to separate but he was telling me ‘I cannot. I do not know what she has did to me, I love her too much.”
Ms Gillespie then asked Mrs Stoica: “Who did Samoila say that he loved?”
Mrs Stoica replied: “Adriana Adriana.”
Christmas Day death
Mrs Stoica was giving evidence on the first day of proceedings against Ms Ciurar who denies murdering Samoila on Christmas Day, 2019, in an assault which prosecutors claim was allegedly aggravated by domestic abuse.
Ms Ciurar also denies another charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. Prosecutors claim in this charge that she allegedly trying to stop police from conducting a “full and proper investigation” into the circumstances surrounding Mr Stoica’s death.
On Tuesday, Mrs Stoica told the court that she and her family were Romanian citizens who had come to live in Scotland. She said that her son lived with Ms Ciurar.
She and her son worked for an agricultural produce firm in Fife and spent Christmas Eve working to around 2pm. Mrs Stoica said that members of the Romanian community in Kirkcaldy were getting ready to celebrate Christmas.
However, she said that her son looked to be sad throughout the day but wouldn’t tell her what was wrong.
Car journey argument
She told Ms Gillespie that she overheard the argument during a car journey with her, her husband and her son.
She said that after overhearing the argument, she asked her son about his relationship with Ms Ciurar
Through an interpreter, Mrs Stoica said: “I asked him – ‘is this the reason for your sadness – because you are arguing again?’ He did not answer.”
When Ms Gillespie asked the witness to describe what Ms Ciurar was saying, Mrs Stoica replied: “She was inciting him, calling his name, telling him he was poor – to call somebody poor is a sign of humiliation.
“Samoila was not shouting. He was speaking in a nice manner with her.”
She said her son left the car at around 2.30pm.
She told Ms Gillespie: “We dropped him off. I was watching him in the mirror and saw him for the last time.”
During proceedings, Ms Gillespie also asked Mrs Stoica if she could identify Ms Ciurar who was sitting in the dock.
Mrs Stoica pointed to the accused and said: “She’s the one that murdered my child.”
The allegations
Prosecutors claim that on December 25 2019, Ms Ciurar murdered Mr Stoica at 68A David Street in Kirkcaldy by stabbing him on the body with a knife.
In a second charge, the Crown alleges that on the same date at the same location, Ms Ciurar did “falsely state” that Mr Stoica had “stabbed himself.” The prosecution claims that Ms Ciurar did this to “impede, obstruct and hinder the police from conducting a full and proper investigation into his death.”
It is claimed that Ms Ciurar did this with “intent to defeat the ends of justice” and that she did “attempt to defeat the ends of justice.”
Ms Ciurar, who is represented by solicitor advocate Iain Paterson, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The trial, before judge Lady Scott, continues on Wednesday.
