
Fundraiser launched to repatriate remains of man killed in e-scooter crash
Named locally as Dragusin Vasilica, 31, who is originally from Ialomița, was on the e-scooter when the fatal collision happened on the Old Navan Road in Blanchardstown, Dublin on Sunday, August 3.
No other injuries were reported. Mr Vasilica was taken to Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown but was later pronounced dead.
Heartbroken pals of Mr Dragusin have now launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help raise funds to repatriate his remains back to his grieving family in Romania.
Mr Dragusin had been living in Ireland for around four years where he worked as a plumber.
In the post on the GoFundMe titled: 'Ajutor pentru repatrierea lui Dragusin Vasilica' a pal wrote that Dragusin had hoped for a better future here in Ireland.
'Friends and family describe him as a quiet and hardworking man, with a big heart and simple dreams,' organiser of the fundraiser Ilie Bitoleanu wrote.
The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
'Unfortunately, his family does not have the financial resources necessary to repatriate his body to Romania, so that Vasilica can sleep an eternal sleep next to loved ones.
'He was known as a quiet, hardworking man with a big heart and simple dreams.
'We sincerely ask you to be with us in these painful moments. Any amount, no matter how small, can make a huge difference for the family. The money raised will be used exclusively for repatriation costs to Romania basic funeral services support for the grieving family,' the pal wrote, adding: ' Thank you for your solidarity and support. Let's stand with the Dragusin family in this painful burden. May God rest his soul in peace.'
Gardai continue to appeal for any witnesses particularly any road users with camera footage (including dash-cam) who were travelling in the area between 10.40pm and 11pm, to contact Blanchardstown Garda Station on 01-6667000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Garda accused of paying criminal to attack female officer's home learns fate
No charges are to be brought against a Garda who was alleged to have paid a criminal to throw a brick through the window of a female officer's home. The Irish Mirror has learned that an investigation by Fiosru (Formerly GSOC) into the officer, who was suspended from duty in 2022, resulted in a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) - which has now ruled no charges are to be brought against him. The decision means a near three year external investigation into the officer has resulted in no prosecution- and the garda may be able to return to his duties soon. He is however understood to still be subject to an internal disciplinary process and remains suspended from the force at this time. The Garda had been subject to an investigation by the Garda Anti Corruption task force when the revelations first became known and were reported by this paper in early 2023. Asked for comment about the development, the Garda press office stated 'This is not a matter for An Garda Síochána at this time. You would be best placed to contact Fiosrú in relation to your query.' A spokesperson for Fiosru meanwhile told us: 'Fiosrú cannot make a comment at this time.' Meanwhile the female officer who was the alleged target of the brick attack remains suspended and has been under investigation herself for alleged harassment. It is understood that officers expect there to be charges in this case. She was alleged to have accessed the force's internal computer system to change her love rivals phone number - and then send her abusive messages and voicemails. It was also alleged that she tried to enter the couple's house to confront her rival - but was only scared away when the woman started recording the Garda on her mobile phone. We previously reported that the alleged brick attack saw the attacker driven to and picked up from the scene by an innocent taxi driver. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week Officers had tracked down the taxi driver who confirmed he'd been asked to bring a man to the estate where the female officer was residing. He also told gardai that the man in the taxi asked him to wait at the scene and he came back a few minutes later before telling him to drive off. Detectives quickly established that the fare was a low-level criminal and small-time drug dealer from the same town - and he was then arrested on suspicion of attacking the officer's house. He was held at the local Garda station – and initially refused to make any comment. But detectives then raided his house and found a secret phone, with voice notes still on it. One of the messages, sources told us at the time, warned the criminal that he had been identified as the main suspect for the attack on the female officer's home. It's understood the voice note told the criminal to get out of his house before he could be arrested. The criminal was later confronted with the voice notes and claimed to detectives he was paid €300 by the officer to attack the female garda's home. Garda bosses in the station immediately called in the force's Dublin-based Anti-Corruption Unit – who specialise in hunting down allegations of wrongdoing by serving officers. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.


Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Gardai confirm probe into alleged attack on girl, 6, told to 'go back to India'
Gardaí are now carrying out a criminal investigation into an alleged racial attack on this little girl, it has emerged. A day after The Irish Mirror revealed details of the shocking ordeal six-year-old Nia Naveen is alleged to have suffered outside her home in Waterford City, the force confirmed it was investigating the incident. We revealed yesterday that Nia's family say she was punched and told to go back to India in the incident on Monday outside the family home in the Kilbarry area of Waterford City. Now, Gardaí have confirmed to us that the matter is the subject of an investigation by officers in Waterford. A spokeswoman told us: 'Gardaí responded to a report of an alleged assault in the Kilbarry area of Waterford city on the evening of Monday 4th August 2025. 'Investigations are ongoing.' KS Naveen and Anupa Achuthan pictured with their daughter Nia Naveen and their son Nihan Naveen in their home in Waterford on Tuesday (Image: Jim Campbell) Nia's mother Anupa Achuthan told us that Gardaí had visited her home on Wednesday to keep her updated on the investigation. 'They told me they were investigating and that they also said that they would do some patrolling.' And she repeated her insistence that she did not want the kids involved – who were as young as eight – punished. She said: 'I do not want it to happen to anyone else. I am not completely aware of the system in Ireland. But I strongly believe physical punishment is not really good. "I would say the social workers, the Gardaí, the school and the teachers would (provide) counselling. "The system has to support them. Actions have to be taken appropriate to their age." Anupa, who has lived and worked in Ireland for eight years and recently became an Irish citizen, said the gang included a girl aged around eight - and several boys between 12 and 14. Anupa said the incident happened on Monday evening when Nia was playing outside the home the young family moved into in January. She told us: 'I let her outside for a few seconds. My husband was at work on night duty. He was off to work and I was alone with my 10-month-old and my six-year-old. 'She went out with her friends. I was supervising them just in front of the house. They were playing together and I knew they were safe. 'My youngest one started crying because it was his feeding time so I just let Nia know that I would be popping inside the house and she could play with her friends and I would be back in a second after feeding the baby.' But she said Nia came back into the house upset after around a minute. Anupa said: 'She was very upset, she started crying. She couldn't even talk, she was so scared. 'I had never seen my daughter like that. 'I just asked her friends what happened and they were all so upset, they couldn't talk. 'One of her friends said a gang of boys older than them hit her on the private parts with a cycle and five of them punched her on her face. 'She told me five of them punched her in the face. 'One of the boys pushed the bicycle wheel onto her private parts and it was really sore. 'They said the F word and 'Dirty Indian, go back to India'. 'She told me today they punched her neck and twisted her hair.' Anupa Achuthan pictured with her daughter Nia Naveen during an interview with reporter Michael O'Toole in their home in Waterford on Tuesday (Image: Jim Campbell) Anupa also told us she took Nia to hospital for a check-up following the incident. And she said she had to take her to her GP on Thursday for more treatment as she was still in pain. The mum of two says she also felt guilty at not being able to protect Nia. She said: 'I feel so sad for her. I could not protect her. I never expected that such an incident would happen. 'I thought she would be safe here.' Follow us on Twitter @IrishMirror - the official Irish Mirror Twitter account - real news in real time. We're also on Facebook/irishmirror - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Irish Daily Mirror, Irish Sunday Mirror and Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week


Irish Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'Conor McGregor posted a rant about us - It's time to debunk him... again'
Disgraced fighter Conor McGregor has once again posted misinformation - this time targeting our publication. Sadly, in this era of social media, where a person has 10.6m followers and an army of fans and bots alike, it has become necessary to further rebut misleading posts that he freely and without question uploads to social media. McGregor, who was found liable by a civil jury for rape and recently lost his appeal of that decision, has taken to targeting this journalist and now our publication for reporting nothing but factual information - albeit information he does seem to like. READ MORE: Conor McGregor wants to become the next President of Ireland - could it really happen? READ MORE: Conor McGregor makes series of misleading claims in rant about failed Nikita Hand case appeal On Tuesday he posted a long rant naming me, the Irish Daily Star, and levelled a series of unfounded accusations that he has now since deleted - as he has every other post directed at us. But not before they were read by his millions of followers. On Tuesday we factually and accurately reported about a rape investigation which is now before the courts. It is the case that gardai believe the attack was random in nature - meaning the alleged injured party was not known to the alleged attacker beforehand. This was stated as fact and was not in any way intended to minimise the alleged incident - if anything it was to properly reflect the grim reality of it. As is the law of the land - we cannot identify the alleged attacker - nor information that has not been heard in court. In general when a person is ultimately convicted of a rape offence - it may be the case then that they can then be identified - so long as a victim is not identified, or if a victim decides to waive their anonymity. McGregor, who has blocked me on social media platform 'X', nonetheless took it upon himself to repost screenshots of our story on this issue, in order to attack our reporting. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week Calling me 'an absolute disgrace' for merely informing the public about the incident in the first place, McGregor then went on to falsely state that I 'first ignored and then mocked the stabbing of a Garda on active duty in broad daylight.' He further falsely claimed that I was 'acting' like I 'didn't know the details,' and that I was 'here again playing to the agenda of government elite in deceiving the public despite the dangers now faced by the people of Ireland.' Normally these kinds of allegations are best left ignored. But McGregor, who claims he's running for the Irish presidency, enjoys a large platform that I believe should not go unchallenged. I resent and totally reject his allegation that I ignored or mocked a garda. I would never do so, nor would I mock or make light of any victim. The UFC fighter is referring to a now deleted post by me on 'X' in which I reposted a statement he made about an incident that is now before the District Court. My intention behind this post was to state that at that point he had been 'radio silent' about the Court of Appeal decision upholding a High Court civil jury finding that he raped Nikita Hand - and that instead he was posting about this. Noting in hindsight that his post was about an incident now before the courts, I decided it best to delete it. Sadly however, that was not the end of it, and a pile of accounts leapt on the opportunity to allude to some sort of conspiracy as to why the post was deleted. My post at no stage mocked or ignored what was a widely covered major news event - that was not only extensively reported by this publication - but virtually every other outlet in the land. Conor McGregor invites Donald Trump to Ireland and drops wild AI image Once again, this is a matter now before the courts - which severely limits how publications such as ourselves can comment on such matters for the moment. We the media have to follow the law. But that is clearly something McGregor doesn't seem to understand. Or perhaps, he doesn't care. Finally, he made further misleading claims that our publication, the Irish Daily Star, is a 'sponsored rag of government,' alluding to a €100,000 payment by the government which he claims was to aid us in propagating 'the public full of misdirection and diversion.'He also called this 'criminal behaviour.' Once again, there is no conspiracy here. I certainly haven't seen a cent of government money personally, and no one controls our editorial direction or that of any of the free press here in Ireland. McGregor is referring to a €100,000 payment given to our company 'Reach PLC' as part of the 'Global Ireland Media Challenge Fund.' The Department of Foreign Affairs backed fund is awarded to media outlets in order to help fund international coverage that would otherwise be impossible in this challenging time for all media. The funding is not, and never has been used to control our editorial direction - which has often challenged and been critical of the government of the day. The fund has only ever been used to enhance our international reporting - for example allowing our reporters to cover our brave Irish soldiers helping keep the peace between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights. It was further utilised to send us to Lebanon to cover the important work being done by Irish peacekeepers there and the demand for justice for the murdered soldier - Private Sean Rooney. It is also utilised and open to any media outlet to avail of - and does not in any way impact or get used for our domestic coverage. We would absolutely abhor and never sign up to being used by the government to spread any agenda. These are words that normally should go without saying. But sadly, this is no longer the case in a world of unchecked social media - where any thick with a blue tick can have such a large platform. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.