A handyman allegedly murdered a customer by stabbing him in the neck with scissors and strangling him with cable ties following a dispute over money, a jury has heard.
Dorin Ciorba is accused of killing Osaretin Oronsaye in his Dartford flat on July 5 last year, just a day after notice had been given that he was being taken to the small claims court by the client in the sum of £2,158.
Maidstone Crown Court was told CCTV captured the 29-year-old cycling towards the home Mr Oronsaye shared with his wife, Oghomwen Ogebor, in Dunlop Close shortly before 2.15pm, wearing fingerless gloves and seemingly pulling a balaclava over his face.
Half-an-hour later, Ciorba was seen riding his bike away, dressed in different clothing and without the gloves, before catching a train from nearby Slade Green station to London’s Woolwich Arsenal.
It was just after 6pm that evening that Ms Ogebor returned home from work to find her husband’s body, covered with a duvet, in their blood-stained en-suite bathroom.
The window cleaner, known to people outside his family by his middle name Carlos, was lying amid large pools of blood and on his back with his legs underneath him.
Despite the efforts of a neighbour, who was a nurse, and the emergency services, Mr Oronsaye was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the start of Ciorba’s trial today (January 20), prosecutor Dominic Connolly explained that during those life-saving attempts, the attending paramedic spotted a pair of scissors that had been underneath the deceased’s body as well as four cable ties pulled tightly around his neck.
Mr Oronsaye also had a “concaved and squidgy” wound to the back of his head, suggesting the skull had been fractured.
Despite this, the jury heard Kent Police’s initial thoughts were that the circumstances were not suspicious and he may have committed suicide.
However, Ms Ogebor refused to believe this, Mr Connolly told the court, having arrived home to find the door locked from the outside, food being prepared in the kitchen, and his body covered up.
She also later realised that her husband’s phone, wallet, bank cards and keys were missing from their two-bedroomed, ground-floor flat.
But it was not until 10 days later, on July 15, that a murder investigation was officially launched after a post-mortem examination noted the deceased had been “subjected to various modes of assault” consistent with the use of scissors, cable ties, hands and an electric radiator.
The pathologist also concluded that although Mr Oronsaye had suffered a head injury, he would have been alive when he was stabbed to the neck and strangled by his killer.
Further police inquiries led to Ciorba, of Longbridge Road, Barking, east London, being arrested on July 17 and subsequently charged with the murder of Mr Oronsaye and robbery of his belongings, offences which he denies.
Numerous items belonging to the deceased, including his phone, bank cards, car keys and other personal documents such as Covid vaccination, library and Specsaver appointment cards, were found by police when they searched the home Ciorba shared with his partner and young child, as well as an associated storage unit, the court heard.
Officers also discovered a 100-pack of cable ties with nine missing, fingerless gloves, a blood-stained balaclava and a blood-stained rucksack inside which were court papers relating to the civil claim against Ciorba.
Furthermore, a download of the defendant’s phone showed a Google search in Romanian had been carried out on July 8 – a week before the post-mortem examination – which, when translated, read as “Man murdered in London Dartford house” or “Man murdered in house London Dartford”.
In the time gap between the killing and arrest, evidence from CCTV, cell site data and banking accounts showed Ciorba using Mr Oronsaye’s bank cards to withdraw cash at ATMs, as well as attempting money transfers and purchases of goods including a one-week travelcard and two bouquets of flowers.
Opening the prosecution case, Mr Connolly told the court: “The Crown’s allegation is that this defendant, Dorin Ciorba, was engaged by the deceased, Osaretin Oronsaye, to carry out some maintenance work for him at his flat in Dartford.
“You will hear how that work gave rise to a dispute between the two men and, as a result, of that dispute, Mr Oronsaye commenced legal proceedings against Mr Ciorba in the small claims court at Dartford County Court for a sum of approximately £2,100 which he said Mr Ciorba owed him.
“It’s the Crown’s case that on Saturday, July 5 last year, Mr Ciorba travelled across London to Mr Oronsaye’s flat in Dartford.
“It is known from local CCTV that Mr Ciorba was in Mr Oronsaye’s flat for half-an-hour and in that period the Crown say that he murdered him by stabbing him in the neck, most likely with a pair of scissors, strangling him using some cable ties as well as strangling him with his hands, and striking his head with a hard object, most likely an electric radiator that was in the room.
“He also robbed Mr Oronsaye of some personal possessions, namely his phone, his keys and his wallet that contained a number of his bank cards, and he subsequently used those bank cards to take money from Mr Oronsaye’s bank accounts and to make some purchases.”
Referring to the Google search about a murder and Ciorba’s “confident” use of Mr Oronsaye’s bank cards, the prosecutor said: “On July 8, 2025, the death of Mr Oronsaye was not being treated by the police as being suspicious. It was thought at that stage it was suicide.
“It was only after the post-mortem examination that the matter was regarded as a murder inquiry.
“And yet here we see Mr Ciorba doing a Google search to see if there is any report of a murder.
“And in the absence of there being such a report, it seems Mr Ciorba feels safe to continue using Mr Oronsaye’s bank cards.”
The court heard that the financial dispute arose between the men when, having already paid Ciorba for the cost of materials and labour for the required maintenance work in the en-suite and a bedroom, Mr Oronsaye had been trying to claw back the money his insurance company had then insisted on paying direct to the contractor.
An email from HM Courts and Tribunals Service was sent to Ciorba on July 4, informing him of the legal action being taken against him and instructions on how to respond.
The court paperwork subsequently found by police in the rucksack detailed that Mr Oronsaye had stated that Ciorba was “dodging” his calls and refusing to reimburse him the insurance pay-out.
Following his arrest, Ciorba, who is of dual Moldovan/Romanian nationality, gave a ‘no comment’ interview to police.
He was also noted to have no injuries save for a small cut or graze to one of his left-hand fingers.
Outlining the defence case to the jury, his lawyer Beth O’Reilly KC stated that her client had carried out building work for Mr Oronsaye for several years and had gone to his flat on July 5 to complete some decorating.
She said there had been an issue regarding overpayment for this job but that Ciorba did not know court proceedings had been instigated.
The court was then told that it is asserted by the defence that while at the flat, Mr Oronsaye propositioned the defendant “for sex in exchange for writing off the debt” and, “fearing he was about to be raped” he pushed Mr Oronsaye, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the radiator.
“He then left him lying on the ground and did not assault him thereafter,” added Ms O’Reilly.
In her address to the jury, she also stated it was the defence case that Mr Oronsaye was involved in drug dealing and that people Ciorba had introduced him to were planning to steal his class A substances and money from the flat.
The trial, which is being presided over by Mrs Justice Dias and is expected to last three to four weeks, continues.
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