‘Body in suit case’ girl lived in Wexford

June 2003

The Russian girlfriend of the man whose body was found in a suitcase in a Dublin canal last summer worked in Wexford right up to the start of her trial in the Circuit Criminal Court last week.

Marina Sourovtzeva, aged 31, lived in Wexford for a couple of months and worked as a waitress at a local restaurant, where staff had no knowledge of her involvement the case.

Ms Sourovtzeva came to Wexford with a female Russian friend, and was given a job in the popular restaurant after calling to the premises on a number of occasions to enquire about work.

Staff and customers became friendly with the attractive, easy-going asylum seeker, but during conversations, she never gave them any clue about her tragic past, and she left to attend the court case in Dublin without telling anyone.

She was due to report for work last Thursday but failed to turn up. The first time that stunned staff at the restaurant discovered her connection to the ‘ body in the suitcase’ trial was when they saw her on a television news report.

‘I couldn’t believe it,’ said one former colleague. ‘We knew nothing about it until we saw her on the telly. We all started texting each other to tell everybody.’

Ms Sourovtzeva pleaded guilty in the court to false imprisonment and assault causing harm to her Romanian boyfriend, Adrian Bestea, aged 21, at Strand Road, Sandymount, Dublin, on July 8 last year. His badly beaten body was found in a suitcase in the Royal Canal ten days later.

The court heard that Ms Sourovtzeva was the victim of countless beatings at the hands of her boyfriend, but couldn’t report him because he too was an asylum seeker.

She sought help from friends, who introduced her to three Russian men who said they could evict him from her flat for a fee.

She took the men to her flat, where they savagely beat Mr Bestea for some four and a half hours before one of them struck him on the back of a head with a wheel brace, killing him.

The following day, his body was crammed into a suitcase and Ms Sourovtzeva and two of the men transported it on the Number 3 bus to Drumcondra, where they dumped it into the canal.

The court further heard that Ms Sourovtzeva had never intended for Mr Bestea to be killed, and was not present when the fatal blow was delivered, as she had gone out to buy cigarettes and vodka for the three men.

Mr Paul McDermott SC, appearing for Ms Sourovtzeva, said his client did not report the killing and in fact first fled to London for some time as she feared she would also be killed herself.

Judge Yvonne Murphy ordered a psychological report on the defendant and adjourned to July 19 to allow it be prepared. She expects to pass sentence on that date.

Note: Ms Sourovtzeva was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison, for false imprisonment and assault causing harm.